Vapors
by ElectraSev5n
Summary: This ninja business? It isn't for the faint of heart. Luckily Aiko is far from faint, even if she did get stuck with a ridiculously girly name. SI, OC, whatever you want to call it. Rating is for language.
1. Chapter 1

"Uzumaki Aiko, get your feet off the desk", Umino Iruka barked when he walked through the door, the amiable expression falling off his face almost immediately. "And where is your brother?" At his side, Mizuki-sensei rolled his eyes and rubbed at his eye with a palm.

Aiko shrugged belligerently and slid her feet off the table in front of her. At her side, a brown-haired boy looked up with a bleary expression, made a face, and then cushioned his face on his forearms again. The two years she'd already spent in the academy had been more than enough time for her to become used to her teacher's temper.

The educational system at the ninja academy was like nothing she'd ever dreamed of. Kids were sorted into classrooms by some bizarre criteria she couldn't figure out—it sure wasn't age, and they stayed with the same teachers until they graduated or failed out. She wasn't sure why she had expected it to play out like civilian school—of course it didn't. Their teachers (Umino, in her case) were responsible for getting them the specialized education they in particular needed to prosper. He provided … well, essentially the mental conditioning and oversaw their practice of concepts practiced in specialized taijutsu and weaponry classes.

Iruka-Sensei scowled, and passed off his papers to Mizuki. "Take care of those, would you?" he asked in an undertone before clapping his hands and raising his voice. The classroom silenced and fell into childish approximations of a disciplined 'ready' stance. "Listen up!" He barked. "You're going to be taking a paper test first thing today. I should be back before that's done, but if I'm not Mizuki will lead physical conditioning today."

Groans rang out, but as to whether they were mostly for the upcoming test or the news that the assistant teacher would be in charge was anyone's guess. Iruka gave the class one last stern look, then disappeared in a puff of the gray chakra smoke that Aiko had always thought smelled strangely.

Paper tests were rare, but the ones they had were brutal. The academy had a huge list of assigned texts that were not discussed in class, but they were still tested on the material without sympathy. In a way it made sense. Ninja needed to be self-motivated. A ninja who didn't constantly work to improve when unsupervised would be a poor resource for the village.

To an extent, how a student did on the academic portion of the class was luck (a shinobi virtue, in a way). Since there was no way to know what texts would be tested when, the only way to be sure to do well would be to devote all spare time to reading (for someone reading at a child's comprehension level, anyway) … but doing that would mean a student would fall behind in physical conditioning.

Basically, the whole system was designed to be incredibly unfair and practical. It had to be, though. The academy had four to six years to turn children into soldiers (less in wartime). Through sheer necessity the actual instructors had to spend their time teaching practical skills and giving them emotional and mental conditioning—it would do no good to churn out child-soldiers who were physically or mentally incapable of killing. Once that had been established, specialized skills could come later.

This was the first year she would be learning more than theory—many of her classmates wouldn't (depending on their skill level), as they were just now starting. Though Aiko had done very well in the academy, the teachers had been very reluctant to start either six year old on live weapons or taijutsu. No one wanted a shinobi child without a guardian to control them hurting themselves or getting into fights with civilian children. The wait rankled a bit, but their reasoning made sense.

When he came to her, Mizuki handed Aiko one of the third-year tests with a faint smile and moved on. She pulled it closer wearily and scanned through the questions. '_List as many foreign bloodline limits as you can, identify their village and describe them briefly?_' She gave a quick huff of amusement. _'This is total crap, definitely not the material for the first semester_.' Aiko filled in the allotted space easily. The way the tests were personalized made her wonder if the students were intentionally being groomed for certain roles. If so, what did her testing indicate? Intelligence work, maybe?

_'I guess I'll know in a few years_.' She nibbled on her thumbnail and moved on. '_In the 32__nd__ year of the Shinobi, what Hokage established Konoha's guiding philosophy? What is it? Why is it superior to each of the other major shinobi villages' stated philosophies? Provide examples._' Aiko braced her chin on a palm and rolled her head, cracking her neck in the process and getting a disgusted look from her deskmate. '_Ugh, __**more**__ propaganda. They start the brainwashing young here_'. She made a face at her squeamish classmate just to tease. He was quickly turning red when the door flew open and Naruto sailed in, wrapped up in ropes and flailing madly. Iruka yanked on said ropes and tossed him into an open chair just behind Aiko and to her left before calmly heading up to the chalkboard.

Totally nonplussed, Mizuki shuffled through the remaining tests for Naruto's and handed it to him. After a moment's consideration, he helpfully slid Naruto's pencil to be within reach of the pre-teens awkwardly bound hands.

Curious, Aiko slipped her right hand into her pocket for a tiny mirror the size of her thumbnail. She held it concealed from the front of the classroom on her palm (held with chakra, though that hadn't been taught yet) and carefully angled it to reflect Naruto's paper. It was painstaking, but she managed to read the first question. It made her want to roll her eyes. He was being asked to list the other ninja villages. '_Poor Naruto_,' she thought fondly. '_You're terrible at schoolwork, aren't you.'_

She casually brought her hand up to scratch at her neck and released the mirror, letting it fall inside her shirt. Neither of the teachers seemed to notice anything, which she took as a plus. Most eight-year-old academy students wouldn't be able to sneak anything by Chuunin, even if it was admittedly minor. Granted, she was far from a normal eight-year old, so this was pretty small potatoes for her. Aiko reminded herself not to get smug—she was an adult in the body of a child, so of course she was sneakier than her apparent peers.

This class was now filling up with people she actually recognized, too. She'd seen Neji, TenTen and Lee enter the Academy last year, but her first year had been spent with strangers (and Naruto, of course). Sakura was actually lurking off to Aiko's right. At this point in time, she wasn't nearly the obnoxious harpy she would be by the time graduation rolled around. She mostly stared up at the teachers with big green eyes, fiddled with the ends of her hair, and lagged near the end in physical conditioning.

Other students were much more interesting. Ino, for example, had immediately leapt to the top of her class across the board- physical conditioning, schoolwork, and the kunoichi skill classes meant to aid infiltration. She'd probably do the same when they started weaponry and taijutsu in a month. It wasn't hard to believe she was the heir of one of Konoha's most prominent clans. None of the other clan heirs impressed like that, however. If she hadn't known, Aiko would have dismissed most of them as soft civilian brats. Sasuke was closest to being serious ninja material, but he was a fidgety and cheerful little brat. Aiko assumed that the Uchiha massacre hadn't happened yet, in large part because of his attitude and also simple deductive reasoning. The anime had shown that he discovered the massacre when he went home after class, and this was Sasuke's first year at the academy.

'_Becoming a ninja isn't nearly as interesting as it's cracked up to be so far_,' Aiko mused. Of course, she did have four years left until graduation for her teachers to impress her.

* * *

Umino Iruka smoothly pushed open the door to the Hokage's office, holding the folders he was carrying to his chest as he gave a deep bow.

"Good afternoon, Iruka-kun. Have a seat." The Sandaime Hokage gave a disarming smile. "What do you have to report about your current class?"

The younger man pulled at his collar, fingers slipping on his papers just a little bit while he slipped into the chair placed in front of the large desk. He always felt presumptuous when he came in for these meetings and sat in the Hokage's presence. When he'd applied to become an Academy teacher, he had in no way expected to be pegged as the most promising sensei and assigned the class that was meant to be their future elite. As such, he had a lot of extra responsibilities to ensure he wasn't wasting the village's precious resources.

"Well, Hyuuga Neji is on track for an early graduation," he began smoothly.

The Hokage made a sharp movement with one hand. "No. We will not be allowing early graduation during peace time. I'm sure you can find something to occupy his time while he is in the academy, even if he masters the material early."

"Of-of course." Nervously, Iruka shuffled that paper to the bottom. "There's another in the same age group- a nine year old female named TenTen who has shown incredible promise with her hand-eye coordination and physical ability, although she has an exceptionally petite body type. I would recommend getting her into the aerial weaponry classes with a personal tutor."

"No extraordinary flexibility?" The Sandaime reached for his cup of tea.

Iruka shook his head. "No, or else I would have thought she'd be an excellent taijutsu type under someone like Anko-san."

The older man made a face. "I'm not entirely certain that Anko-chan is ready to be an instructor, in any case. Very well, I approve the placement and a tentative training schedule as a weapons expert. Perhaps she'd complement the close-range Hyuuga style well, if she excels."

"As you say." Iruka fidgeted a little.

"How about Naruto?" The old man leaned forward, clear interest on his wrinkled face. Iruka hid the reflexive expression of distaste, but he was certain that the old man saw it.

"Uzumaki Naruto is not meeting expectations." The Hokage slumped a little. "His aerobic conditioning is excellent, but his coordination is incredibly poor. He hasn't managed to make contact with his chakra at all, and if I didn't know better I would say he is barely literate. He has no interest in school and frequently sneaks out or doesn't show up in the first place. Though he's in his third year, he's still on the first year materials." Feeling uncomfortable, Iruka offered the light criticism that "My assessment is that he wasn't quite ready to begin academy work. He simply doesn't have the attention span. He may do well at taijutsu when he starts this year, however. I don't think he'll be able to graduate in a four year term. He'll probably need the extra two years."

"I see." The old man let out a long sigh. "Please, drink your tea." The younger man complied. His throat was audibly strained, probably from yelling at the misbehaving student mentioned. "I'd had such high hopes for the son of the Fourth." His tone was wistful.

Iruka perked up. "Well, his twin is actually doing very well," he explained, eager to cheer up the Hokage.

The old man's face perked up. "Is she now?", he inquired. He broke into a smile. "Do tell."

"Well, Aiko is working through the standard fourth-year curriculum, and she is clearly precocious. Her aerobic fitness isn't quite up to her brother's level, but she's visibly on par with the best students an age group above her. Her coordination is excellent, but I wouldn't want to specialize her yet. She's been playing around with her chakra control—it's looking to be quite good for an eight year old, especially one without parental direction. She's obviously dedicated, but I'm not certain about her attitude, however. She seems to spend a lot of time observing her classmates and very little time interacting with them. It's as if she doesn't consider them to be her peers. While her brother is obviously desperate for attention, she doesn't seem to want anything to do with anyone other than Naruto. Even then, the relationship is strange. She seems more indulgent and protective than anything else." He paused. "There is one more thing I've notice about the two," he added reluctantly. "They seem to have made up some sort of private language— nonsense words, as far as I can tell, but they understand each other and coordinate well."

"Hmm. A harmless quirk," the Sandaime waived the concern away. "I've always thought she was very mature, and a little on the suspicious side. She's got more of her father than her mother, that one," he mumbled. '_Perhaps she'll be the one to really inherit Minato's legacy. I did have such hopes for Naruto. It's like looking at his father as a child again. As if Minato is reborn._' Outwardly, he said "Would you recommend graduating her in two years, then?"

"Yes." Iruka bobbed his head. "We'll have a hard time keeping her occupied for two years, let alone four."

The Sandaime sighed. "A pity to separate them. I'd hoped to have them on the same team, under their father's student." He shrugged and smiled self-depreciatingly. "I am a foolishly sentimental old man, you see."

"Well, it's possible to keep her the two years," Iruka said skeptically. "However, that could also be solved by giving her to said student as an apprentice and adding Naruto to the team when he does graduate." He shrugged. "She might make it to Chuunin and be ready for another team placement by that point and her teacher could take an entirely new genin team. Two years of personal attention is a fairly long time with an exceptionally talented student, after all."

Sandaime tapped tobacco into his pipe. "Very true." He snapped his fingers, creating a yellow spark that lit the pipe up. He noticed with some amusement that Iruka's face had wavered as if he wanted to tell the man off for smoking inside. "What else do you have that needs addressed?"

Iruka glanced at the next paper. "I have a civilian-born student in the class that just started who might do well as an infiltration specialist," he began.

* * *

"Hey, Aiko."

"Speak Konoha," she idly reminded him. Naruto made a face.

"Not at home," he retorted. "Anyway, don't change the subject."

She pulled the covers down from her face and turned over in the dark to peer at where she knew her brother's futon was positioned. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna go practice taijutsu tomorrow?" His voice was wistful. "I just can't get the katas right." His tone changed to something determined. "I'm going to be better than that stuck-up Sasuke! He thinks he's so cool." She could hear him rustling.

Aiko bit at her bottom lip, reminding herself that she wasn't supposed to know why exactly Sasuke had suddenly turned into such an irritating little dick. He'd slid on an impenetrable mask (for real eight year olds, anyway) of ambivalence and leapt into training with a religious fervor. One Friday morning he'd been just fine. When he came back Tuesday, he was jumpy and constantly channeling that nervous energy into training. When she thought about it, it was completely horrifying that he'd only been given one day off to grieve for his entire family.

"Of course," she finally said. "We can do that instead of going to the park."

Her brother let out an outraged gasp. "Aiko! We can't miss that." He scuttled out of bed and jumped onto hers, bouncing with the impact. Cold little fingers found her shoulders. "We can't! I almost caught that rabbit last time, I know it."

She rolled her eyes. The anime had definitely not explained Naruto's fanatic love for small, furry animals. The boy needed a pet. Maybe she could buy him a tame bunny so he'd stop getting scratched up by wild ones. "Taijutsu first," she allowed. "I want to do that in the early morning, when it's cooler."

It had been getting stupidly hot lately. 'Fire Country' was a more apt name than she'd ever thought, but it should probably be 'Lava Hell Steam Country'. He could chase rabbits at noon if he wanted to, she would be parked somewhere shady with a notebook. She'd found an outlet in recreating things she remembered from her old life and testing the limits of her periodically faulty memory. It pissed Aiko off that she couldn't remember her name or family, but judging by the books she'd apparently read in her past life she had been a college student at some point. And Game of Thrones? Holy crap, that would sell well here. Maybe she could give Jiraiya some competition on the 'filthy books' front. She frowned. Just not if anyone thought a child had written it.

"Fine," Naruto grinned (she couldn't see it, but she could hear it in his smug voice) and then snuggled up to her.

"Get off," she pouted, feebly kicking at him to put up at least a show of disapproval before she relented and let him sleep with her.

Before the sun had really risen, the twins were in the permitted section of the Academy training grounds. Aiko frowned. "Show me that again," she demanded. Naruto obliged, clumsily jolting through his first kata. "No, no, that's all wrong." Aiko knew that it was, but she wasn't entirely sure how. The Academy standard taijutsu for girls and boys was different—what he was taught would eventually prepare him to use superior strength and mass, and her taijutsu relied on speed and agility to make every move count. "Maybe we need to find you a tutor," she mused. "For now, though, you start to lose balance on the second movement. What if you turned your left foot—no, not like that, the other way, yeah. Good. Try it again slowly now and see if that helps."

By the time the sun was fully up, both children were sweaty and gross. Aiko was panting a little, but Naruto looked perfectly fresh. He was all but bouncing off the walls at the visible improvement—she had no idea if this was what his form should look like, but at least he wasn't so off balance he was likely to fall, and they'd managed to cover up a few weak points.

Aiko cleaned her face in one of the hundreds of tiny streams running through Konoha (almost certainly put in through use of earth and water ninjutsu for training purposes) and camped out under a sturdy oak to watch her brother flit around with that inhuman speed and purpose to set harmless bunny traps. She sighed. '_I don't really feel like writing today_.' Her eyes flickered to the tree beside her. '_Maybe I should try the next chakra control exercise_?' Tentatively, she gathered an even amount of chakra in her palms, then stood and turned to face her opponent with an intimidating glare. The tree seemed unimpressed. She gave it her best scowl and placed both palms on the trunk, willing them to stick. It seemed to work.

Encouraged, Aiko lifted her right palms to place it up half a foot—or tried to, at least. "Oh, fuck," she cursed, tugging futilely. Her hands didn't seem to want to leave the tree. Curious. If this were happening to someone else, she'd find it entertaining.

"How embarrassing," a melodic tenor called out from above her. Aiko flinched, cutting off the chakra flow immediately and stepping back into a defensive posture. She very deliberately didn't think about just how red her cheeks must be.

There was a rustle, and a few leaves came falling down slowly. In a flash one of them was gone, replaced by a boy about five years her senior with—was that gray hair? When he looked up with a sheepish smile and light glinted off his glasses, Aiko was sure she knew who this was. Her face twisted into distaste unconsciously. "What do you want," she demanded.

* * *

This is my attempt at two things I've wanted to do- the SI thing, and the November writing challenge. Sure, this isn't exactly a novel, but I can hit the basic requirements like word length and finishing it, I bet.


	2. Chapter 2

Last Time:

There was a rustle, and a few leaves came falling down slowly. In a flash one of them was gone, replaced by a boy about five years her senior with—was that gray hair? When he looked up with a sheepish smile and light glinted off his glasses, Aiko was sure she knew who this was. Her face twisted into distaste unconsciously. "What do you want," she demanded.

* * *

'_Calm down, you have no reason to know he's scum_.'

He seemed to agree as he frowned very slightly and held up his hands. "Hey, no need to be rude. I was just passing by and thought you might want a few tips. I'm training as a medic nin, you see, and I know quite a few tricks for chakra control."

Though the light obscuring his glasses should have made it impossible, Aiko could tell that his eyes had briefly shot over to the direction of the nearest person—Naruto, probably a half mile away by now.

"What do you suggest," she said a little grudgingly after a short pause. He wasn't going to do anything that could hurt his cover now—not in the middle of Konoha, when he had no orders to do so.

Kabuto seemed to ignore her rudeness this time. He tilted his head in a friendly smile and reached out to encircle her wrist. Aiko's first impulse was to pull it away, but she aborted the movement after only a twitch. He gave her an amused look as if he knew what she was thinking. Aiko refused to blush. He flipped up hand over, palm-up and used his index finger to lightly rub at the flesh. "It seems you're using too much chakra."

She frowned and pulled her hand away. "That doesn't make sense," she pointed out. "If I'd used too much chakra, my hand would have been repulsed from the tree."

"Aa", he shook his head, "If you were using too much for your body, that's true. However, you used enough chakra to support your body weight from the tree instead of just your hands, as if you planned on climbing it. Because you lack the physical strength to support your full weight with your arms, as most girls do, you were unable to remove them without ending the chakra flow. You could have compensated by directing the same sum force to your left while you moved your right. A skilled shinobi can do that or cut off chakra entirely quickly enough to pull of aerial flips and such, of course," he added with a slight nod. "However, I'm afraid that it would be much easier to improve your muscle mass… and learn tree climbing with your feet," he drawled with some amusement.

Aiko blinked. 'If _I didn't know he was a grade A creep… I'd say he was pretty cool_,' she noted uncomfortably. The fact that she found a 13 year old slightly attractive also implied some mildly disturbing things about her mental state- was she really 8 in all the ways that counted?

Before the pause became too long, she bowed her head in a very slight incline. "Thank you, sempai." He looked amused by that.

"Please, call me Kabuto. I'll see you around, Aiko. Keep practicing!" He turned to walk away, casually holding up one hand in a goodbye. She stared after him a second longer than was probably socially acceptable. '_Why did he come talk to me?_' she grimaced. '_Is he still in Root right now, or is he one of Orichimaru's already? I wish I knew.' _

She went back to work, but Aiko's mind kept drifting back to that strange visit. The distraction probably didn't help her chakra control. After several hours of work that only took her about five steps up the tree, she gave up in disgust and stalked home for a shower.

Once that was done, she turned her nose up at her everyday clothes and zipped on the pink flouncy sundress she'd bought herself. She'd made a point of getting identical 'ninja' clothes for Naruto and herself, but she wasn't going to dress like she was going to a casual dress funeral. Besides, there seemed to be a positive correlation to how adorable she looked and just how good sales were. No one wanted to sell anything to her brother, but apparently they either didn't mind her or just didn't recognize her when in civilian clothes and alone. Naruto still wasn't back as she tied a baby blue ribbon onto her wrist and grabbed up her wallet. She slipped it inside one of the two burlap shopping bags she was taking with her—she hated the paper bags, they often broke and she planned to do a lot of grocery shopping. They'd just gotten the orphan fund check yesterday—it always came on a Friday. Two weeks between checks was a long time, and they were just about out of essential groceries. She flounced out the door, then popped right back in and pulled on her blue slippers with little white beads.

Aiko locked the door behind her and tucked the key away in the pocket of her skirt, mentally compiling a grocery list. She'd actually enjoyed the kunoichi cooking classes, even though she thought it was incredibly stupid to only teach boys the camp fire cooking. The food she remembered from her old life was pretty different, and most of the ingredients couldn't be found in the marketplace anyways.

She made a bee-line for the fruit stand and loaded up on apples, oranges, and even two juicy peaches that would be perfect for breakfast. Getting Naruto to eat vegetables was a losing battle, but he was willing to eat fruit. Aiko compensated for this by forcing as much fruit down his throat as possible. He was still a little boy, of course, and a particularly strong-willed one, so he ate a lot more noodles and chips than she'd like.

Aiko wrapped the strap of the partially filled bag around her wrist and then gripped it in her fist to distribute the weight a bit before worrying at her lip and pushing her way through the afternoon crowds. '_We still have plenty of rice_,' she recounted. '_and seaweed. Sushi or onigiri tonight?_' She ended up getting the ingredients for both, as well as a half-dozen eggs and milk. Tonight was going to be the night she figured out the recipe for chocolate cupcakes, she just knew it. Just for Naruto, she got a single small bag of barbeque chips, promising herself that she'd hide it until he'd done his homework. She kinda hoped she hadn't severely altered the future by preventing him from developing a ramen obsession. He'd never even eaten at Ichiraku.

Aiko struggled down the road home with a bag on each arm, all but huffing with the effort. It was depressing to do all the work she did and still have such a hard time carrying groceries. She cursed Konoha with every breath for being so big. The ten minute walk between the market and her apartment seemed like a twenty mile trek.

Kakashi momentarily stopped his run across the rooftops, accidentally allowing Gai to shoot ahead of him in their race. The beautiful green beast opened his mouth to declaim something, but Kakashi slapped a hand over his mouth. Surprised, Gai raised one scary eyebrow. "That's one of sensei's kids," Kakashi said quietly, one dark eye intent on the street below.

Maito Gai scanned the streets and found the little head of messy golden hair and the way the sunlight hit it and reflected red tones. "Though her attempt is most invigorating, she is perhaps a little too youthful for her burden," the taller man pointed out. "Are you going to lend your assistance?" When he received no answer, Gai looked up to see that his opponent was gone. "Most unyouthful!" he bellowed, leaping after his friend. "A clever trick from my super-hip rival, but most unyouthful nonetheless!"

Aiko shivered as she heard something strange from the rooftops, back straightening like a ruler. She whipped around just in time to see a flash of green disappearing into the west. "Right then. Not going to think about it." She picked up the pace of her miserable shuffle, trying not to swing her bags too much.

About an hour later Naruto pushed open the door and nervously poked his head in. Seeing no one, he slowly pushed it open and crept in, holding the bluebird in his hands to his chest.

"Naruto!"

He jumped guiltily. "Y-yeah?"

"Come in here and try this. I think I finally figured out the proportions for that recipe."

Naruto grimaced, reflexively sticking his tongue out as if to ward off the memory of the tastes of horrible concoctions she'd forced on him in the past. He didn't understand why she had to do her weird experiments when she already knew how to cook lots of stuff. Still… he looked skeptically at the dying bird in his hands. Maybe he should put her in a good mood. "Okay," he called, feeling a lot more confident than he probably should. "I have something to show you first though." He scuttled into the kitchen just as his twin turned on the faucet to wash what looked like powdered sugar off her hands. On the table there sat two little circular cakes, dusted in the sugar.

'_That's already more encouraging than the thing she made last time,_' he thought optimistically.

"Where did the bird come from?" Suddenly Aiko was in his face, prying his hands open to gently cup the little animal.

"A cat had him! A big orange one, like this." Naruto waved his arms for emphasis. "I rescued him but look, he's hurt."

His sister let out a slow sigh, turning and poking at the little bird. It was too weak from blood loss to protest, even though he swore it'd only bled a little. He stared at the bird he'd rescued, unsure. '_Then again, it's little. I bet he doesn't have much blood at all._' Naruto squirmed, lost in his thoughts until his sister briskly held out her hands for him to take the bird back. "Hey, what-"

"He's going to die if we don't do anything," Aiko said, not looking like she cared one way or another. But that was Aiko, she almost never looked like she cared. But she did! His heart sank, but rose up in hope when she turned off the oven, put a lid on whatever was on the stove before she tucked it in the fridge and then jammed her feet into blue ninja sandals. Even Naruto could tell that wasn't what she usually wore with a dress, but he followed her like a puppy. "It's like three, isn't it?" Naruto shot a look to the sun outside the window.

"Y-yeah," he said uncertainly. "A bit after, I think."

"Then the Inuzuka clinic is still open. Can you hold birdy safely and run? If not, hand it over."

He bit his lower lip and held out the bird for her to take. "You're better at being gentle than I am," he admitted. "Where are we going, exactly?"

"Other side of town. Lock the door, please." He did so, and then blinked at his sister's form rapidly disappearing down the stairwell. "Hey, wait up!"

Civilians gave them strange looks as the twins rushed across town on the streets, pushing when they had to. "Sorry," Naruto called out behind him. Then he turned back to his sister. "I can't wait until we can use the roofs like real ninja do," Naruto groused.

"Yeah. That'd be nice." Aiko glanced down as the tiny bird seemed to fidget or shiver. She winced, and turned to make sure Naruto hadn't noticed. '_This thing is probably going to die_.' She sighed. '_That's no reason not to try, though_.' It was lucky she even knew where the clinic was. There wasn't really any reason to believe the staff there would know how to heal a bird when their normal patients were decidedly canine. They were still more likely to try than the hospital, though.

The clinic was luckily still open when they arrived. Aiko glance down and grimaced before entering—her calves were terribly dusty from the run, but she didn't try to clean up before she carefully opened the door with her foot and Naruto bounced up to the counter and insistently rang the bell.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." The voice was a ridiculously sexy alto. The woman who it belonged to matched—she was tall and moved in a way Aiko could only describe as 'languid'. A click-click of nails indicated that she was being followed. It turned out to be not one but two large dogs. For a moment, Aiko was too stunned to move or say anything. '_Wowwww'_. When Naruto squeaked and nudged her, Aiko awkwardly held the weakly struggling bird up at the older girl. The Inuzuka's expression slid from her heavy-eyed nonchalance into mild surprise and sympathy. "What happened?"

"A cat tried to eat him!" Naruto peeped up, practically vibrating rom excess energy. "A big dumb, fluffy orange one! I chased him off but birdy was already…" he trailed off, big blue eyes imploring.

One of the dogs huffed. "Sounds like a cat." He nudged his brother with a shoulder. "I bet we could teach him a lesson," he growled mischievously.

Aiko watched silently while the older girl gently took the bird from her hands, the serious expression back on her face. She lifted a wing delicately, running one long finger coated in minty green chakra over its back before flipping it over to check the belly.

"Can you fix him, Hana?" The smaller dog asked, quirking his head to the side. Hana made a quiet hum, and easily sealed up the open wound. A flicker of darker green chakra put the bird to sleep. She quickly wiped the feathers off with a wet cloth before speaking.

"I don't know much about avian anatomy, but I took care of the obvious problems," Hana announced. "Could you hand me- yes, thanks." She tugged the blue hand cloth out of her ninken's mouth and wrapped the bird up. "I can't guarantee that he'll make it," she warned Naruto as she deposited the little bird back into his waiting hands. He hugged it to his chest, still staring up at her in adulation.

"How… How did you DO THAT?!"

The dogs and Hana winced in unison. Naruto was too busy dancing in place to notice. "That was so cool," he babbled. "Birdy was going to die and you just—like that!" He waved his free hand, the other still clutching the bird to his chest. "and your hand was **green**," he emphasized, wiggling his own and staring at it hopefully as if it would change colors. Hana exchanged baffled looks with her dogs, and then all three heads swiveled to look inquisitively at Aiko. She shrugged weakly and averted her eyes, clasping her hands behind her back for only an instant before she had to lunge forward and take the bird from her brother's flailing hands. Completely missing the byplay, Naruto shot directly for Hana and hugged her middle, staring up at her adoringly. "Teach me how to do that! That's way cooler than anything the old man's done!"

There was an awkward pause.

"The old man?" Hana asked.

Aiko gave a quiet cough, embarrassed beyond words. "He means Sandaime-sama."

Three sets of eyebrows shot up. '_Dogs have eyebrows? I've never noticed that_.' Aiko squirmed.

"Well, gaki," Hana said with a tone of finality, "You're years away from being able to do that. Tell you what—if you practice hard, and have good chakra control, I'll consider giving you an apprenticeship when you graduate. It'd be working around your Jounin-sensei's training, of course," she added in a warning tone.

"But that's forever from now!"

"Too bad!" The smaller dog barked authoritatively, moving to flank his human. "You're just a pup. It takes years to get to be as good at Hana. You can't become a medic in a day." Hana put a hand on his head, looking faintly amused.

"He's right, gaki. Speaking of that, what's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!," he declared, ending the hug so he could point at his chest with both thumbs. "Future Hokage, and your future apprentice too!" He grinned up at her.

"Uzumaki Aiko," she said dryly, dipping into a low bow. "Thank you for your time and talents, Hana-san. What do we owe you?"

Looking faintly flustered, Hana waved it off. "It's fine, I get paid from the Hokage tower. Take care of your bird, alright? I guess I'll see you again, probably before your brother is Hokage." She flashed a toothy smirk at the two. "Now scram, I'm closing up for the night. I have places to be."

As they walked home in the dark, Aiko cast a glance at her twin. _'He's never going to be able to be a medic-nin_,' she thought guiltily. '_I hate to doubt him, but the Kyuubi makes chakra control almost impossible for him. Maybe he could do some healing, but a full medic nin certification is supposed to require really high chakra control_.'

"Hey, Naruto. Maybe you should pick just one amazing life goal at a time, huh? Hokage before the medic thing?"

"No way," he shouted, thrusting a fist in the air. "I'm gonna be the best, like no one ever was."

"Do you always have to yell like that? I'm right here and my hearing's good."

* * *

Next time: A training exercise flops horribly, the beautiful green beast makes an appearance, and there's a death.

* * *

This section is sort of the prologue- it's not absolutely essential, but it'll clear up some things I don't plan on explaining again.

* * *

In the beginning there was nothingness.

But then there was the realization that it was actually an inexplicable omnipresence. Then a realization that was more of a remembrance—that of identity. With a mental blink, she remembered what it was like to be a body separate from the 'everything' around. With that mental leap, she tried to feel her body and failed—movement was impossible. That led to the unsettling perception that part of the omnipresence was different- like an octopus drowsily hugging her front. That was about the time panic set in.

That panic was premature. She should have waited to panic until the soft everything surrounding her began to push and _hurt_. The pain brought one fact to the fore—the assumption that the girl lacked a body was inaccurate. She struggled wildly, both confused and thrilled at the sensation of possessing limbs again after the time spent in the void. Movement was still hard, and she was slowly losing whatever fight she was engaged in.

Fingers grasping, the girl tried to get a grip on the slick everything around her. That was no use. She stopped struggling for a moment out of shock when she realized she'd gained back another sense. Sound.

_'I'd forgotten sound. What else have I forgotten?'_

The sound in question wasn't altogether pleasant. There was a high (but muffled) beeping, and the sound of two human voices. They were speaking gibberish, but their tones were completely different. They didn't even seem to be talking to each other. One voice, a soothing alto was slowly keeping some sort of rhythm and repeating the same ten words or so. The other voice huffed, shrieked, and then dropped low to growl out something that sounded vaguely like a threat.

She panicked again. It didn't sound like she wanted to meet those people. Then her head suddenly felt cold. There was no pressure- and then some huge animal was grabbing her with plastic-y tentacles.

She _howled_. There was no other way to describe it. Shock at her voice might have made her stop if the sharp sensation against her bottom hadn't beat it to the punch. Her vision was blurry—but at least it was back, that was progress from the darkness! She could see light, outlines, and movement. Her brain was working at full tilt to try to process what was going on—one of the enormous tentacle monsters had lifted her bodily and was wrapping her cold body in something soft and warm. There was something peculiar and familiar about what she was seeing. It was like a Picasso (Picasso, what's a Picasso?)

'_That almost looks like an enormous face._'

It really did. The giant things were… Holy shit.

'_Those are people! Giant people!_'

* * *

The nurse holding the infant soothingly stroked her back when the girl went totally silent and still. He couldn't give the child his full attention, though—the second infant that Kushina-san was struggling with right now was already starting to crown. He hurriedly took the appropriate measurements, dated the time of birth and went to give the infant a cursory chakra scan. Then he frowned and tried again. His eyes flickered to his direct superior, who was more than a little busy at the moment. '_Oh well_,' he thought to himself. '_She's not in any immediate danger_.' The infant was a little underweight, which was unsurprising- twins often were. He was a little more concerned by the altogether strange way her chakra system seemed to have developed past the point where it should be. Infants had yet to combine physical and spiritual energies to develop any kind of reserves—so his results were utterly impossible. His supervisor would probably have an explanation.

With that, he set the infant down in the prepared crib and rushed over to his boss. She actually wasn't his normal supervisor—Uchiha Mikoto nee Uchiha (and wasn't that icky?) had married so far up into the class system of Konoha that it was actually a bit inappropriate for her to be midwifing. He wasn't going to be the one to tell her that she couldn't. He wasn't stupid, after all. His eyes flickered over to the west, where he knew the village was up in arms. As soon as he was done here, he would be rushing down the hall to participate in emergency triage. Just as the second infant was identified as a baby boy with thankfully normal vital signs, the door burst open and the fourth Hokage himself was suddenly at Uzumaki Kushina's side.

She gave a relieved yelping sound, reaching out for his hands. He leaned over, burying his lips in her hair. The smell of soot and the unpleasant tang of chakra followed him in. Hiro grimaced. "Uchiha-sensei," he called quietly. "Would you check my analysis? I got very strange chakra readings from her."

Minato blinked at his wife, trying to drink in her features for one last time through tear-filled eyes. "Did he just say 'her'?" He glanced across the room.

Kushina smiled weakly. "Surprise?" she half-asked, half-informed. "I guess the doctor was wrong about twin boys."

While the couple was talking quietly, Mikoto felt a thrill of alarm. The midwife slipped out of her rubber gloves and shunshined across the room to gently lay a hand on the girl in question. Hiro suddenly noticed the silence in the room- Kushina looked concerned even through her exhaustion, but the expression on the Yondaime's face was absolutely tortured.

"I didn't mean to alarm," he apologized. "It's not bad, just very strange."

"He's right," Mikoto said thickly, looking absolutely perplexed. "Her chakra system is far too advanced for a newborn. She shouldn't have been developing spiritual chakra in the womb." She shook her head slightly. "I don't think there's any danger, but this is completely unprecedented, to my knowledge."

"But my son, his is normal?" Minato demanded, wild-eyed. Mikoto nodded.

From her supine position, Kushina Uzumaki's face hardened into something determined but heart-breakingly sorrowful. "Would you give us a moment?" she requested. Hiro left gladly, taking off at a run down the hallway to get to where new arrivals would be coming in with horrific burns and other wounds. Mikoto lingered outside the door, on the other hand. She buried her face in her hands and tried her best not to cry.

Inside the room, Minato swallowed thickly. "Well, I guess that removes the need to choose which twin will become the container for the nine-tails," he said lowly, hating himself. Every part of him was screaming that he couldn't do this, not to his child, _please kami anyone else_. But he had to. Kushina gently slid her fingers through his. "We should go," she said quietly.

Minato jumped, shaking his head. "Kushina, sweetheart," he protested, "You need to stay here. You just gave birth, you can't possibly go out there." His stubborn wife shook her head, jaw set into the obstinate expression he knew so well.

"I'm not letting you go out there alone." She tightened her grip on his fingers and sat up to slide her legs over the side of the bed. "I'm fine, see? You married a totally awesome warrior princess kunoichi, not some wilting flower, dattebane. "

* * *

The girl in the crib crossly shrieked, wiggling angrily. She found herself bumping into the warm bundle beside her. '_What the fuck is going on?' It couldn't be what she thought it was. It just couldn't , that didn't make any sense! Reincarnation?'_ What a sick joke. She'd never believed in any of that. And anyways, wasn't it important in reincarnation that you don't remember your past life? If this was what it was like, everyone would have believed in reincarnation already. Then she stiffened.

'_Do I really remember my past life?_' Mind racing, she thought back. She didn't know her name, couldn't remember living or dying… but she remembered facts. She remembered early American history, how to wrap a present, the plots of dozens of movies, and Freudian theory… But not her own life. She couldn't remember watching any of those movies or whether or not she had a family.

'_Oh, fuck.'_

The two people she assumed were her new parents looked over at her and the man (she was pretty certain it was a man, but her eyes weren't good enough to be certain) hurried over to pick her up and hold her to his chest. The rumble she could feel in his hard chest as he said some more of that weird garble in a soothing tone assured her that her hypothesis was right. This must be her father. She breathed in deeply and got a whiff of what smelled like smoke. It was strangely comforting compared to the bland, disinfected air she was breathing now. She quieted down in order to concentrate on peering at him. His face tugged at something in her memory.

His hair was downright unnaturally bright. Maybe it was just something about her strange vision that made it look the color of a banana. A glance over at her mother affirmed the guess—it looked like her red hair was the color of a coke can. Couldn't be right. But her father… she squinted her eyes and raised a chubby hand to try to grasp at what looked like one of two long locks on either side of his face. The rest of his hair was short and spiky, and tumbling messily over a piece of cloth tied across his forehead. His eyes were a positively eerie shade of blue- colors looked very intense from an infant's eyes, she ruminated again.

'_He looks like a ninja,_' she thought blearily. '_Like… like Naruto's dad_.' Then she frowned. Who was Naruto? Not someone she knew. Someone she'd read about, or watched on tv?

That last thought seemed right. Yeah, tv, but there was a manga too. Naruto had blonde hair and looked like his dad, and this guy just happened to look eerily like a real—life version of him. '_Funny coincidence that mom has red hair,' _she noted. Then her dad said something in that gibberish language that ended with what sounded like the word 'Kushina.'

'_Coincidence_?' She thought frantically as her new dad pried her stubby little fingers off of his hair and handed her over to her mother.

Nope. Just when she thought she'd had this figured out. Her mother had definitely referred to her father as 'Minato'. '_But this makes no sense_!' She gave an unhappy wail, but stopped when her mother's eyes welled with tears and the arms holding her gently shook. Her father had left her field of vision momentarily. When he came back, he was holding another infant. She suddenly had an inane thought that this new baby must have been the octopus thing hugging her in the womb. Then… '_Holy crap, is that __**Naruto**__? Naruto is my brother?_' She hoped not. If she was right, then both of her new parents were about to die. She struggled a little, confused and frightened while her mother placed a kiss on her forehead and then gingerly stepped over to the door. Her father, still holding her twin, came and held her little hand for a moment before pressing a kiss to her cheek. There was a definitely somber air_. 'No, no, no, this can't be happening!'_ Minato opened the door and a dark-haired woman looked up. There was a short exchange, and then her mother- Kushina- handed her off to this stranger woman. She wailed, absolutely refusing to be comforted.

And then both of her parents were completely gone. Just there in one instant and gone in the next. A slight breeze fluttered past and she caught a tangy scent. Shocked, she fell silent. They were gone with her brother. Why would they do that?"

'_They only need one infant for the seal_,' she remembered slowly. '_They had to pick one of us._' That was somehow even worse than using your child to contain a demon—picking which one of your children was going to be the human sacrifice. She wasn't exactly hoping she'd be picked, but it seemed strange that they hadn't even stopped to talk about it. '_I don't know that they didn't,_' she realized. '_I can't understand a thing they're saying_.' Which was strange too- she knew a little Japanese, and that definitely wasn't what they were using here. She wasn't fluent, but she'd understand something… unless this was a dialect? That could explain why the names were the same.

The woman holding her set off at a brisk pace down the hallway, passing the room they had left. It certainly resembled what she thought of as a hospital, until they came to a corridor that led down what must have been at least several stories, then straight, and then up again in a spiral. She found herself sneezing dust out of her nose several times while her new companion—was this a nurse?—tried to keep her warm against a soft chest.

She eventually stopped in what looked like an office in a tower. The woman holding her gave a choked gasp and quick-stepped over to the window. Curious, she tilted her head as much as possible to spot what her newest companion was looking at. Unfortunately, her vision was still adjusting and she didn't have much in the way of range. She could see a dimmed sky, a few rooftops, a collapsed building… and was that a fire in the distance?

She squinted, but the brunette holding her had turned away to sit on a low couch to wait. She found herself feeling bad for whoever this woman was—she was clearly very upset. The woman was gently stroking her hair – is it usual for babies to be born with hair, she wondered—and talking in that low, soothing voice. There was no way to measure the time, but eventually the woman holding her jumped in a startled way and turned to look expectantly at the door. Surprised, the girl let out a yelp –and I wish I knew what my name is, she thought crossly, I can't call myself 'the girl' forever'—which was quickly soothed by the brunette. The woman holding her really was quite pretty, with enormous dark eyes, long lashes and pale lips, but for a moment she thought the woman was a bit crazy. Brunette must have heard or sensed something she couldn't, however, because in a moment the door opened and a tired-looking old man walked in, flanked by a huge, monstrous bear of a man with literally white hair who was cradling another infant.

'_Naruto?_' She let out a wail and wiggled, managing to turn slightly on her side and reach out towards her brother. The man holding him let out a startled oath, turning wide eyes at her. '_Oh lord, that's Jiraiya_,' she registered. '_That means_…' she flickered her eyes up to look at the third Hokage.

The man looked like he was dead on his feet. Jiraiya sat sullenly next to the woman holding her, taking the chance to peer down at her. She grabbed at his hair—he had a lot of it—hoping to surprise him into cheering up a bit. It didn't work, but at least she was now close enough to reach out and touch her brother to be sure he was okay. Naruto seemed to be sleeping. She dully noted that the Hokage was talking, but it wasn't interesting until the woman holding her jerked, and then began to shake her head and reply. Her voice rose in distress- _'I wish I knew what they were saying_,' she grumbled internally.

The reply was similarly incomprehensible, except for the grudgingly tacked-on "Uchiha-sama" at the end. The girl blinked. Was this- Well, that would make some sense. Kushina was supposedly friends with Sasuke's mom. But then… Shouldn't this woman be pregnant? She tried to maneuver to look at the woman's stomach, but of course she couldn't.

If this was lady Uchiha, then she should probably be Naruto's guardian. Jiraiya was his godfather, true, but she knew damn well that he hadn't taken care of Naruto in the manga. This woman seemed more than willing to take responsibility for her—that probably extended to her brother as well, didn't it?

She felt uneasy. What had happened to this woman in the original story? She couldn't have died, or Sasuke wouldn't have been born. So why hadn't she raised… Oh. Oh. There was a terrible rivalry between the Uchiha and the third Hokage, wasn't there. The girl meant to let out an angry wail to share her disapproval, but she found that instead she began to cry uncontrollably. Furious with herself, she tried to stop and it only got worse. The adults stopped talking and the woman- Mikoto Uchiha, wasn't it?- tried to soothe her. Then the old man actually walked over and pried her out of Mikoto's arms. The older woman was outright crying now too. Emotions running high, she began to wail. Then an enormous hand came into her field of vision. It couldn't have been real, of course, because it was glowing green. And then she knew nothing more.

* * *

Consciousness came back slowly and drowsily. The room was warm and dark, and she could feel Naruto's soft body against her side. What had woken her became clear in a moment when a pale face, over half-way covered in a navy mask and matching forehead protector swam into her vision. Unlike Mikoto's round, beautiful face that had become familiar after her parents left, the boy was all angles- sharp cheekbones and a pointy upturned nose. That wasn't to say he was ugly- the boy had a striking, fey beauty even through the blood smears on his face and hair. He was crying.

'_This is Naruto's teacher,_' she realized. '_Kakashi.'_ He didn't look like the man depicted in the anime. Then again, he was just a boy now. He looked like he couldn't possibly be sixteen.

'_And everyone he loves is dead,_' she remembered. Pity swelled up in her breast. He was suffering a lot more from her parents' deaths than she ever would. She made a soft sound and reached up for him. She was dissatisfied with the noise that came out- her tongue felt thick and stupid, it wouldn't move well enough for her to actually speak. She managed to enunciate a 'kha' sound, but his name was far beyond her now. It was probably just as well. The boy reached down and gathered her up. She had been right about his body type. He was gangly and disproportionately thin for his height. He must have just shot up. Jealous, she wished for a growth spurt right about now. That would make things easier.

As that was not to be, she did her best to make soothing snuffling sounds when she was awkwardly pressed to his chest. Even through the blanket she was wrapped in, she could feel his heart beating rapidly. Then he spoke- and for once, it was something she could understand.

"Aiko."

'_Love-child?'_ She blinked. '_Did he just name me? Or did my parents give me a name and he just happened to know it.' _She tried to focus on his face—the one dark eye peering down at her hungrily mesmerized her. '_Either way, someone is unimaginative… Probably Kakashi. No one who names their first child 'Fish-cake' would pick out 'Aiko' for their other child.'_ She didn't much care, though. It was nice to have a name. Besides, she already knew that Kakashi was a very sentimental person. That didn't answer why her parents didn't have a name picked out for her- didn't they know they were having twins? Perhaps they'd thought both children were boys and they didn't have a girl's name selected.

That was about when she noticed that they weren't the only ones in the room. Jiraiya was there again, sleeping on a chair. A thin blonde woman was by him. Her hair… well, it wasn't as unnatural as Minato's, but it was still pretty bright. It looked like sunlight glinting off of wheat. The woman gracefully slid over to stand by Kakashi, giving him a light squeeze around his slender shoulders. '_Tsunade, maybe_?' It could have been. This woman was about the right age, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. The woman said something in a slow, aristocratic drawl with deliberately enunciated syllables. _'Her voice is really beautiful.' _The face that came into her vision matched. She had thought Mikoto was beautiful, but this person was almost inhumanly appealing. Aiko let out a startled cry of delight, reaching up to tangle her fingers in the glinting hair that came into her peripheral. It didn't get close enough, so instead she tugged on Kakashi's shirt, doing her best to make amiable baby babble. It seemed to cheer up the beautiful woman a little bit.

Kakashi, on the other hand, tucked his thumb into her fist to open it up so she let go of his shirt and then briskly handed her off and was suddenly gone from the room. Startled, Aiko began to cry. Why did people _keep doing that_? It must have been some ninja transportation. It was unnerving.

The beautiful woman gave a low curse and then began to shush her, making soothing nonsense noises. Unfortunately, that was when Naruto woke up. He didn't wake up happy. Jiraiya started awake and was suddenly leaning over the crib and tugging away the blankets, lifting up his shirt -'_when did we get dressed_,' Aiko wondered, suddenly noticing she was wearing clothes too now- and touching a finger to his chubby baby tummy. He must have channeled chakra, because an elaborate sigil instantly bloomed into visibility, spiderlike whorls of little symbols and lines that covered his entire tiny body. It looked like an incredibly badass tattoo. In a way, it was.

Tsunade –it had to be her- asked something in an anxious tone, holding Aiko just a little more tightly against her metal chestplate armor. Jiraiya replied with his ridiculously low voice, sounding a bit relieved and sad at the same time. He tugged Naruto's shirt back down and pick up the infant, trying awkwardly to hold him in the same comforting way that Tsunade was holding Aiko.

With a snort, Tsunade shook her head and said one short word. Aiko did her best to remember the way it sounded, because when Jiraiya looked up and gingerly copied the exaggerated way Tsunade held Aiko, she became certain it meant something along the lines of "look" or "copy me".

'_Learning the language is going to be absolutely miserable_,' Aiko whined internally. But the sooner the better. How hard could it be- she was far more intellectually advanced than a real infant, and they learned language all the time. All she had to do was pay attention to what the adults around her said.

For the next few weeks, that plan seemed to be working out pretty well. She hadn't seen Kakashi since, but she and Naruto were visited often by a fresh-faced nurse and the two Sannin she'd met while they stayed in the little incubator things in the hospital. Aiko was bored out of her mind. All Naruto did was sleep and cry. She pitied him, knowing that he must have been in a lot of discomfort from the Kyuubi's chakra invading his system. However reasonable his lethargy was, he was still pretty poor company. Granted, she wasn't awake often either. She seemed to have developed some strange sense for when someone was coming close by, and she found herself groggily waking up every time someone approached the door to her room.

It was lucky that she slept so much, because otherwise all she had to do with her time was stare at the ceiling and guess at what the hospital personnel and her occasional visitors said. She was really starting to feel she had a grasp of some of the baby-related vocabulary. The strange heated bed she laid in was a one syllable word, and every time she heard it she knew she was about to be set down again. That was about the time everything changed again, and not for the better. One of those glowing green hands she was really starting to despise put her to sleep again. When she woke up from her artificially imposed rest, it was to the sounds of a half-dozen wailing infants and the chatter of older children.

She eventually guessed that she and Naruto had been moved to an orphanage. It made sense, since none of the adults who should have taken them in were about to. Aiko didn't try to restrain her bitterness. The place was a dump, and she only ever saw two workers. They were both incredibly stressed-looking, clearly over worked and bone tired. One of them should probably have been retired, but the other woman couldn't have been more than thirty years old- far too young for the lines under her eyes.

Days turned into weeks. The care here wasn't up to par with what she had received at the hospital. She often found herself waiting half an hour or more for a diaper change, and she quickly began to despise her bodily functions. She was almost always hungry. The other children must have felt similarly—they absolutely never stopped crying. It was no wonder that the two workers were so haggard. When Aiko managed to drift to sleep, it was uneasy and often interrupted.

She didn't actually know where her brother was. No one ever seemed to have time to talk to and play with the babies, so all she could do was count the ceiling tiles and wonder when that rotten one was going to fall down.

Through sheer necessity to keep from going mad, she turned to introspection. Aiko worried over thoughts of the future so often that she began to feel sick whenever she wondered if this was really, truly the anime she remembered. It certainly seemed to be. That was a frightening thought- the world of Naruto was a really dangerous one, and she didn't know how the series ended. The latest thing she remembered was the revelation that Itachi had been ordered to kill his family, and vague recollections about the identities of his superiors in Akatsuki.

Of course, none of that had happened yet. Could she prevent it? Should she? Was there any way to keep the series on track so that what she knew would make her life easier, or was that ruined the instant she was born? It seemed unlikely that one extra child could change the machinations of adults who didn't even know she existed, but there was always the possibility.

What should she do? Hiding wasn't an option. She had family and what appeared to be a blank slate of history. Granted, it was a small family, but Naruto was still her brother in the realest way anyone in this world could be family. There was no way she could leave him alone when she knew just how lonely his life was going to be. Besides, she didn't have anyone else.

If she couldn't run and hide as an anonymous civilian somewhere, the only other option was to become obscenely strong so that she could survive. Not just strong- strong enough to stay with Naruto- who had a nine-tailed demon in his gut. That was going to take some work.

In the end, she had no way of knowing how well she'd affect future events, but having knowledge of things like people's characters and motivations was still incredibly helpful. She had a lot more pertinent information right now than Jiraiya probably did in his spy network. Since she couldn't act on it, things should stay largely the same.

Some things would have to change, of course. Naruto… would he be the same person if he always had someone who believed in him? Would he still want to be Hokage and prove himself? Probably, she decided. That didn't mean she was going to let the villagers push him around.

In her darker moments, she ruminated on what a terrible bastard the third Hokage was to send them here when Mikoto Uchiha had been outright begging not to be separated from her best friend's babies. Had he already hypothesized that an Uchiha was behind the attack on the village, or was he just usually that much of a narrow-minded bigot?

The show had depicted him from Naruto's perspective… But Naruto was a small child who had only been shown kindness by one person in his childhood. He wasn't the most impartial judge. Besides, this was a military dictatorship. It was highly unlikely that Sarutobi was a nice guy…. Especially with that whole 'massacre' thing.

Though the days blended together, she eventually began to notice that she was staying awake longer and feeling more coordinated. She had an easier time making the sounds she wanted to make, and she could sit up on her own, as well as roll over onto her stomach. Of course, there was no one to talk to her, so her vocabulary was still terrible. No wonder Naruto had been a poor student. If a child didn't get attention, they wouldn't attain fluency when they should. If the two women who took care of the children in the orphanage didn't talk to each other, she would almost never hear a human voice doing anything other than shrieking when hungry.

She was now relatively certain that her brother's bed was the one to the left of her. She could see a halo of gold spread across the pillow when she sat up. Aiko knew next to nothing about infants, but she guessed that she was perhaps a year old now, as her body had changed significantly. The strange feeling sliding through her body had only become stronger in her time in the orphanage. She wondered if she was feeling her chakra—that would definitely cinch that this place was like the manga she remembered.

No matter how much she tried, she couldn't do anything with it. It was the strangest sensation. It seemed to be passive, but it determinedly travelled around her body. She had a harder time sensing other people's, but she could definitely tell they were there. Aiko hypothesized that was how she had always known when a medic was about to visit in the hospital—they had enormous chakra systems (compared to the people around here, anyway) and she could feel them coming. It was almost another sense- a vague awareness constantly tugging for her attention.

One night she woke to the sound of the window sliding open and a slender figure slipping inside. She was about to start crying but stopped when the young man came to stand between her crib and Naruto's… because she recognized the figure as Kakashi. He had filled out a bit with muscle, but his eyes were surrounded by dark circles.

He stayed for what must have been an hour, head down. Just staring at the two of them. He began to breathe heavily. It almost looked like he was having a panic attack. She blinked and then he was gone. The window shut behind him with a bang that woke Naruto up. He whimpered, tugging his blanket up over his face. The light clicked on and the younger woman bustled in, head swiveling to find the source of the noise. When she saw Naruto's distress, she sighed heavily and picked him up, bouncing him in her arms. "Hush, hush," she said absentmindedly. Aiko grinned involuntarily—it was always a thrill when she understood something. "Go back to sleep."

It seemed… well, it wasn't exactly strange that the people here treated Naruto like anyone else, but she hadn't expected that. Maybe they didn't know about his situation, or maybe it was just impossible to be afraid of a tiny baby who giggled. Either way, Naruto got about as much attention as the other orphans did. That wasn't to say he got enough- all of the kids there would likely experience slowed development, but two women couldn't possibly take care of over a dozen infants alone, 24/7, seven days a week and give them all enough attention. It was probably a miracle that all the infants were adequately cared for.

'Infants' wasn't really the right term for some of the other children anymore, however. A year had made a large difference for a lot of the children in this section of the orphanage. Some of them were definitely edging into 'toddler' territory and learning to escape their cribs. That fact provided no end of grief for the poor nannies, but so far only one child had been moved to a room for older children (or adopted, for all that she knew).

One day, Aiko realized that she too could stand up by grasping the bars of her crib. Her next quest was obtaining some sort of physical coordination. She was far stronger than she thought an infant of this age and level of activity should be—was it the chakra that made the difference? She stood up and down and took wobbling steps around her padded crib. It was beginning to chafe—she was outgrowing it, and Aiko aimed to prove that by hoisting herself over the bars and carefully sliding down to the floor.

The first time she escaped the crib was a revelation. She fully explored the room, picking up wooden block toys (there weren't many) and toddling over to peer out the window. Aiko investigated the spaces underneath the other cribs, feeling that strange nonchalance toward acting her physical age instead of her mental—no one knew she wasn't really a baby anyways, so why pretend to be dignified? She fell a few times, but it didn't hurt badly and she kept working at it. Her balance was absolutely shot- she felt like she was five Hurricanes into a night at the club, and her feet were too tiny for her to feel comfortable standing on one foot.

When she grew bored, she toddled over not to her crib, but to Naruto's. He was sitting up at the bars and staring out at her with wide blue eyes, a thumb stuck in his mouth. It turned out that getting up was a lot harder than getting out—she could balance gingerly on the frame and stare into the crib, but she didn't have the arm strength to pull herself up the bars. She kept trying anyways, straining madly. If nothing else she could build arm muscle doing this. The door opened behind her and someone gave a startled shriek.

Aiko heard the sound of the laundry basket hitting the floor, but she fought the urge to turn around. She'd probably end up falling if she looked. In a moment, she felt warm hands on her sides lifting her up and turning to put her back in her crib. She snapped, "No!" The woman holding her stopped, surprised. Aiko took a deep breath and swiveled to look at her brother. "Naruto," she enunciated clearly. "Naruto."

The woman seemed a bit bemused, but she obligingly put Aiko in with her twin. He babbled cheerily at her, hitting the padded bed with one palm. Aiko turned to look at the woman. It was apparently the older one, Miyazaki-san, and she was surprisingly strong for her age. Toddlers weren't light. Aiko strained her memory, hoping she had the right words, but forged on ahead anyways. "Thank. I stay."

The woman gave a surprised oath, running a hand through her hair. She pulled the clipboard at the foot of Aiko's bed up and examined it. "You are awfully young to start talking, missy," she mumbled. Gray eyes flickered back up to look at Aiko.

Aiko shrugged, unapologetic. She remembered reading about child prodigies in this world. She shouldn't stick out too much… and besides, she was going to go absolutely insane if she had no interaction.

When the woman left her alone, Aiko sighed and turned her attention to her brother. His vocabulary was…. Well, he had no vocabulary. She frowned. His thickness in the academy certainly hadn't been genetic- both of his parents had been very intelligent and talented people. All he needed was to be given a chance. If she could, she would start teaching him to speak what she was mentally referring to as 'Konoha', but her vocabulary was pretty pitiful too.

'_Of course, I could always teach him English,_' she mused. It wouldn't help much in school, but it would keep his mind busy and (even better) give them a totally secure method of communication. It wouldn't even be that suspicious- she remembered the phenomenon of 'twin speak', where two or more children at the same stage of development basically developed a language all their own. This would almost certainly be more complex than anything real twins came up with, but that would be hard for outsiders to prove.

With that in mind, she grabbed her brother's clean hand and held it up. "Hand", she enunciated. Then she poked at his torso. "Tummy." He giggled at her, curling in on himself and kicking at the air. She smiled and held one finger up to her face. "Nose."

It turned out that single-handedly teaching an infant language took a very long time. Naruto responded well to action words like "Look!" or "Roll!" by copying what she did, but one day it was like a dam broke and he began to start spouting back the words she'd been patiently repeating ad nauseam. She was relieved- it must have been at least a month since she'd started trying to teach him, and she was starting to despair. After that, he began to pick it up shockingly fast. His physical development was about a month behind hers, and she could now coax him to climb out of the crib with her and waddle around the room.

One day, the younger worker came in while they were out and scowled at them. With a sigh, she gestured at the two of them. "Come on," she commanded. Aiko began to waddle after her, but Naruto didn't react. "Come on," she repeated, first in English and then in 'Konoha'. Naruto's eyes lit up and he began to repeat the word in Konoha, all but bouncing as they followed after the woman. She gave a sigh and scooped him up, giving him a wry look and reaching out with her free hand to take Aiko's.

It turned out that they were being given their own room. Perhaps they were just too old to stay in the nursery, or maybe enough children had been adopted or moved out to free up space. Either way, the twins gleefully took to their new space. The best thing in the world happened soon after—potty training. Aiko just about cried with relief, absolutely ecstatic to be rid of the diapers. Naruto was less enthusiastic, but he was so accustomed to copying her that he learned to go on his own pretty quickly.

Once that was accomplished, the two found that the adults spent much less time checking in on them, but that they had the run of the second floor. (the staircase was blocked off with some sort of gate). The other children in the area were all considerably older, but the increased ability to explore and find new toys more than made up for the lack of playmates. Kakashi came back one more night to check in on them, but this time he lingered outside the window. Feeling cheeky, Aiko waved at him. It was a huge mistake. He was gone in an instant and never came back, or if he did he hid from her.

At least she knew he cared, she thought wistfully. No one else had ever visited them, including their godparents or the Hokage who supposedly cared so much about Naruto in the series. Those people could go fuck themselves (with the possible exception of Mikoto, who might be being kept away). She couldn't quite make herself resent Kakashi for abandoning them. He was very young and very broken. He probably stared at the twins in much the same miserable, self-punishing way he started at the memorial stone.

The days all blended together into one long blur of naps, tag, and playing catch with whatever they could find. Aiko only realized just how long she'd been in this world when one day a couple came to look at children. They were kept away from Naruto, but Aiko was paraded in front of them and both men seemed to find her absolutely adorable, one playing with her strawberry-blonde pigtails. The other asked the orphanage staff about her. Aiko was so surprised she sat down on the floor when the younger woman, Suzu, took a look at her and listed off her age as "A little over three and a half, but she's very advanced for her age."

She was absolutely horrified when she realized they were filling out paperwork to take her home. She threw the biggest fit she could, kicking, screaming and crying on the floor. The staff was baffled. Despite Suzu's assurances that "I've never seen Aiko act like this before," the men quickly found another child to take home, a girl slightly older than her with brown hair and eyes. TenTen was considerably less loquacious and exotic, lacking Aiko's turquoise eyes (and the light red hair that wavered on blonde in the right light that Aiko thought seemed much more natural than Kushina's color, but was apparently very unique here) but she was a nice girl who deserved a good home, so Aiko was satisfied. Aiko herself was put to bed without dinner, but it was worth it.

It was a horrifying experience, not least because she realized that no one had cared at all that they would be separating her and Naruto. That wasn't happening. _'No fucking way_,' she thought fiercely that night, crawling into bed with her brother instead of her own. He docilely scooted over to make room. '_If anyone tries again, I'll make them miserable_.'

Learning that she was three raised some concerns about their lack of fluency. Aiko was a little better off than Naruto, but she was pretty sure that their vocabularies should be much bigger at this point. Fluency in English wouldn't do them much good with anyone else.

About a week after her adoption scare, Naruto's seal stuttered in regards to Kyuubi's tests. It was in the middle of the night. She woke to a pants-pissingly terrifying feeling of malevolence in the air. Aiko choked, trying and failing to get out of bed. She stumbled to her feet and back up against the wall, away from that terrible feeling… It was coming from Naruto. He looked to be asleep- his face was flushed as if he was suffering from a high fever, and he tossed and turned restlessly. She heard shouting start up in the distance, and frightened cries from the children on the floor below.

Eyes so wide she felt they might dry up, Aiko weakly called out to Naruto. "Wake up!" Although her hands shook, she used them to brace herself up against the cold wall and take wavering steps towards her brother. She could see his fingers curled into claws in the sheets—_literal claws,_ where did those come from? His face was lengthening, jaw clenching. '_What the fuck is this?_' She shuddered. The manga definitely didn't mention this incident. Maybe that meant it wasn't a huge deal in the grand scheme—it must have worked out the first time. Though the prone figure on the other bed was still frightening, Aiko relaxed a bit. Everything would be fine.

The window burst in a spray of glass, and Aiko was lucky she lifted her arms fast enough to cover her face. Shards stuck in her left forearm and one was even on the top of her head. She choked, completely taken off guard. The intruder was definitely a ninja—someone in a black and white set of armor… '_oh. That's ANBU armor, isn't it_,' she thought blearily. The strange woman was immediate followed by what must have been the rest of her squad. They spread out to four points around his bed, communicating quickly with some sort of sign language. Aiko stumbled forward, giving them a nasty look and trying to grab her brother's hand. One of the adults grabbed her up with a surprised oath and held her away.

"Put me down," she ordered. "He needs help!"

"We know," a muffled voice echoed from behind one of those porcelain masks. "We're taking him to an expert."

'_That makes sense._' Aiko nodded decisively, crossing her arms above the muscled arms holding her aloft from her torso. "I'm coming with," she informed. "Come on, we don't have all day."

The cat-faced man standing at the foot of Naruto's bed moved slightly in a way that made her think he was gaping from behind his mask. His boss didn't seem to mind, though. She nodded at the man holding Aiko (and Aiko wondered what his mask was, it was the only one she hadn't seen so far) and tentatively scooped Naruto up with one hand under his knees and the other around his back.

Then Aiko felt rather ill. So this was travel at ninja speeds? She felt her face turn green, and just when she thought she was going to be ill they had stopped in a grassy clearing. She tumbled to the ground when she was let go, disoriented. Aiko had barely brushed the dirt off her knees (she'd gone to bed in an oversized t shirt) when a slight breeze and that damned smell indicated that someone else had arrived in the clearing. '_Jiraiya_,' she registered. He didn't look particularly jovial right now. She stood there, feeling lost and small while he barked orders, set up a perimeter and snapped open a large scrolls. He savagely tore open his thumb with an incisor, smearing the resulting blood and bits of flesh onto the scroll. Aiko choked a little- that was far grosser in real life than in the manga- but said nothing as the older man had ANBU squirrel lay Naruto down on the grass.

'_Why are we here?_' Aiko blinked and looked around. 'Where is here, for that matter?' Then she rolled her eyes at herself. That was a stupid question. They'd gotten him out of a heavily urban area so that if anything happened it wouldn't be in the middle of Konoha.

The man who had carried her knelt in front of her and picked the broken glass out of her skin, then briskly wiper her arms with a disinfectant wipe of some sort before flickering away. She barely noticed because she was preoccupied with what Jiraiya was doing to her brother.

Naruto gave a horrible growl when the wet brush touched his skin, but Jiraiya only gestured for the ANBU to keep him still. As the moon slowly crossed the sky, the aggressive sounds petered into plaintive mewls and he writhed miserably on the cold grass. Aiko stared in horror, completely aghast at what she was seeing. Skin all over his body turned red, shiny, then peeled off entirely to show new skin. His sharp new teeth had bitten through either his tongue or cheeks or lips because blood was leaking out. He looked like he was in terrible pain… and she could smell his flesh cooking alive. A dark chill crept up her spine. '_I think I judged prematurely when I said whatever this is wasn't too bad_.' The girl shuddered. Aiko didn't notice the passage of time until Jiraiya sighed and wiped his sweaty bangs out of his face and bent to bottle his ink.

"Is it done?" She slowly stepped forward to kneel by her comatose brother, struggling when she realized her feet felt numb with cold. Jiraiya gave her a surprised and vaguely alarmed look but he cleared his throat and nodded, looking tired.

"He should be fine now. I don't know what that boy was thinking, not tying the yin typed array to a Faustos…" He eyed her, appearing to remember his audience. "In any case, it shouldn't happen again." The older man wiped the gore and ink on his hands off onto his pants. "Who brought the extra kid," he barked. ANBU squirrel signed something quickly with her right hand, curling and uncurling the other as if it had a cramp. He seemed to accept whatever she said as an answer, because he grunted and cracked his back. "Take the kids back home," he ordered crossly. The woman visibly hesitated, then flashed through a few quick hand signs. Jiraiya snorted. "Fine, fine, take him to the hospital if you don't trust my work. Believe me, the kid's fine."

Thoroughly cowed, ANBU Squirrel apparently directed a different squad to take the kids home. Naruto never woke throughout the ordeal. He fell into a much more relaxed slumber when he was back in his bed, curling into his pillow instead of laying his head on it. The dog-masked ANBU patted his head and gave an awkward wave before 'poof'-ing away in a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke. "Bye, 'Kashi," she said drowsily a moment after he'd left.

* * *

She didn't realize it at the time, but the scare with Naruto's seal marked a turning point in their childhood. So far they hadn't been receiving excellent care, but no one seemed to dislike the twins personally. The malevolent chakra Naruto had spilled out in his sleep had apparently reawakened all sorts of unpleasant feelings. Suzu was outright terrified of poor Naruto, who didn't even realize how close he had come to being overwhelmed by the Kyuubi. She ushered the other children away from him in common areas and at one point tried to pull Aiko into a different bedroom, leaving him without a roommate. She was well-intentioned. Suzu never mistreated Naruto, and she had probably been thinking of Aiko's welfare when she tried to separate the two.

Miyazaki-san, on the other hand, felt no such restraint. She had developed a burning hatred for Naruto that spilled over onto his twin. Though hurt and confused, Naruto started to avoid the common areas, becoming one of the last to show up for meals and one of the first to leave. He was too young to understand the source of her hostility, but not so young that he failed to notice she scowled at him and tried to cuff or scold him much more often than the other children. Suzu was dismayed at the inappropriate behavior, but far too meek to say anything against her supervisor.

The strange thing about their new attitudes was the disproportionate effect it had on Naruto. Aiko had judged him as a particularly happy and active child. Under the new air of hostility, he became quiet and reclusive when he wasn't clinging to her side. Things became strained enough that someone must have made a complaint to the Hokage at one point, because soon after they turned four years old Naruto and Aiko were pushed out the door and led to an apartment on the outskirts of town by a sneering Chuunin with a red bow in her hair.

Confused and disoriented, the two spent the first day inside and doing very little. When they woke up in the morning, it was to the sounds of miso soup being made in the kitchen by a bored-looking man who shrugged at them before dishing it up and informing them he had been hired to insure that they didn't starve and to take them to school for the first week.

Aiko frowned up at him, all but sneering at the new caretaker. It wasn't him she had a problem with, of course. It was probably the Hokage who'd hired him. That was who she had a problem with. He supposedly cared so much for Naruto that he was like a grandson in the manga, so why had he never once visited? She was more than a little bitter. The orphanage hadn't been abusive, but it had certainly sucked. He'd stuck them there when they had someone begging to take them in because he had a petty grudge against her family. Frankly, she thought A. He blew big chunks, and B. He was emotionally manipulative. That was about the only explanation for the discrepancies in the way he was portrayed in the manga and how he'd acted in this world. He'd probably start visiting soon to form an emotional bond with Naruto, now that he was old enough to remember the Hokage and know to be impressed by him. Naruto probably never would have known the old man had only taken interest in him at age four, and had thought that the old man had always been there, or had only recently realized Naruto needed a family figure.

Yakama-san was true to his word, but it wasn't a glorious adventure by any means. 'School' turned out to be the civilian variety of school. Aiko didn't see anyone she recognized, which made her sigh a bit. Naruto was ecstatic, on the other hand… at least for the first few days. It quickly became clear that their vocabularies were poor for their age and the twins had a hard time keeping up. The gap only got worse when they were meant to start reading. No one had ever read to them—Aiko hadn't even seen written 'Konoha' before. The other students clearly decided the twins were stupid and boring and left them alone. They stood out in a bad way—their clothes weren't the right style, they didn't fit in socially, and they seemed to lack the knowledge 'everyone' already knew.

Naruto quickly began to resent school, scribbling in his books and trying to sleep in classes. One night while trying to do some homework she just didn't understand, Aiko sighed gustily, and stopped to rub at her eyes. She felt an uncontrollable twitch in her left eye so she shut her workbook and pushed it away across the kitchen table. She'd pushed a little harder than she intended. It slid all the way off the edge and flopped onto the floor. Aiko just shrugged. "I'll get that later," she mumbled.

"Done doing that dumb stuff?" Naruto bounced over, fingers dripping what appeared to be purple paint. "I have a much better idea." He gave her big puppy eyes. "We should go get some sweets, yeah."

Aiko snorted, letting her eyes flicker over to the clock. "It's a little late for that, isn't it?" Then she stopped and sighed. Yakama-san provided breakfast and packed bento every schools day, but they were on their own for weekends and dinners. Despite being an adult mentally, cooking was all but impossible with a four-year-old's clumsy body. No wonder Naruto had worshipped ramen. Luckily, she had so far managed to avoid letting him fall into that obsession. "Then again, I am hungry. You've convinced me."

It was just getting dark when they clumsily locked the door and started down the street, wearing matching plain blue pants and long-sleeved white shirts. They still wore the unofficial uniform from the orphanage. Aiko hugged herself and rubbed at her forearms, making a note to get them both warmer clothes. It was getting to be cold.

Their apartment was far enough out of the downtown area that it took ten minutes of walking for the whispers to start. Aiko actually only noticed when Naruto slowed down and began to walk so close to her that their elbows brushed as they walked. To distract him, she playfully poked his side and then slung her arm over his shoulder.

"So, what did you want for dinner?" Her voice was artificially cheery, but Naruto latched onto the distraction from the barely hidden hostility around them anyways.

"Dango," he said seriously. Then he pretended to think. "Maybe cake. Hey, do you think the bakery is still open?" He jumped up and down at the thought, practically vibrating with energy. The motion jarred her arm off his shoulder, and she bent her elbow to reposition her hand to smack him in the back of the head. "Heyyyy," he whined. "Don't be mean, Aiko-chan."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm always mean," she announced. "Deal with it." She nudged him with her shoulder. "Race you to the bakery! Loser pays."

Naruto turned to her as if he was going to say something, but only flashed a grin and took off sprinting. He ended up winning the race, so she grudgingly pulled out her thin wallet, trying to mentally figure out how much she could afford to spend on sweets. They did need jackets, after all, and they wouldn't be getting the check from the orphan fund for another week. The baker's jaw clenched and he looked very unhappy to see the two of them in his shop, but he rang up their order without a word and briskly packaged it, shoving the bag at them and keeping a gimlet eye on them until they left.

The twins wandered the streets under the halos of light provided by streetlamps, fingers sticky with the cinnamon sauce drizzled over the treats. When she was done, Aiko wrapped up the remains of her portion and tucked it back in the bag for later. Naruto was clearly struggling with a full tummy, but he determinedly crammed everything into his mouth. He looked like a fat-cheeked squirrel and he was probably going to sick it all up later, but Aiko just rolled her eyes and let him. He'd learn… eventually.

She managed to taunt him into doing some more running. He didn't seem to need the conditioning very much (and wasn't that unfair?) but Aiko had a much more normal physique. Well, she amended, not normal by the terms of her first life. She was relatively certain that no four year old in her old world could do things like run two miles without getting winded or jump almost four feet. Chakra was like some kind of superhuman drug—it was insane, just absolutely batshit crazy to think that it allowed even untrained kids barely out of toddler-hood to run a seven-minute mile. With her new knowledge, the existence of child prodigies like Kakashi participating in fighting at her age seemed much less ridiculous. It was still fucked up, of course, but it made more sense that he could have been physically capable of fighting with adults.

'_Of course, even I might not be representative of what's normal here,_' Aiko mused as she watched Naruto scurry up a tree, shimmying to get a good view. He shot her a strange look but said nothing. _'Kushina and Minato were both incredible shinobi, by all accounts. I probably hit the genetic jackpot.'_

She frowned at that thought. It seemed like a waste that she wasn't started training yet, when she put it that way. If Kakashi had been good enough to take to the front lines at her age, surely someone would think the Yondaime's daughter could handle kunai throwing? She pursed her lips and took a leap at the tree, grabbing a lower branch and swinging herself up. '_Of course, they probably can't train me without training Naruto_.' She glanced up at the boy, who was gleefully collecting some kind of berries from the tree to feed the bunnies in the park. The girl gave an ugly snort._ 'And they wouldn't want to start training the unstable Jinchuuriki earlier than they have to,_' she thought wryly.

"Hey, I don't think you should feed them those," Aiko warned. "You don't know whether bunnies can eat tree berries." She took a moment to imagine his heartbroken expression if he managed to fatally poison a half-dozen bunny rabbits. "I'm serious, Naruto!"

Naruto's schoolwork was almost certainly a lost cause, but as their second month in school trickled by, Aiko found herself baffled and more than a little infuriated by how much trouble she was having. They'd caught up verbally, as far as she could tell, but apparently civilian parents were expected to do a lot of the hard work to teach reading skills. It was damn frustrating to fail at this as an adult, but there was very little she could do when no one was willing to explain the basics. Their classmates had clearly been warned away from them by this point, and Kisado-sensei was more than a bit cold and uninvolved. She seemed to find vindictive pleasure in punishing Naruto for failing to complete assignments. She might have been willing to help Aiko if said girl hadn't been obviously attached at the hip to the jinchuuriki.

To cope with the irritation, Aiko started a subtle psychological campaign against her teacher. She justified it by telling herself that she was practicing essential ninja skills when she messed with sensei's head by stealing her packed lunches, (and returning them days later, smelly and gross) hiding all the chalk, and just generally making herself a nuisance. Kisado-sensei had at first seemed to assume she was slowly going insane, but then leapt to the deduction that the pranks were Naruto's fault and had been desperately trying to prove it for weeks. In a roundabout way they were, Aiko mused one night while she made her weekly trip to the empty school to take all the staples and rotate all the desks two degrees. If sensei wasn't _such a bitch_ to Naruto, everything would be fine.

Even the principal, a stern-faced man who had no love lost for Naruto, didn't believe the semi-hysterical woman when she claimed that a four-year-old was bullying her. Kisado-sensei ended up taking a relaxing two-week vacation.

She was replaced by an older man with the biggest mustache Aiko had ever seen. He barely seemed aware of the students, much less of the poor reputation that a specific student had. Takuro-sensei was a breath of fresh air. Aiko took advantage of the switch in teachers, showing up early and staying late to get help. The two weeks of cramming proved to be just what she needed to get on the path to literacy. Aiko didn't prank him the entire time, and she made certain that Naruto didn't either. The manga had implied that his mischievous streak was a disguised cry for attention, but it seemed to Aiko that he was really just incorrigibly naughty. She approved. There was something fun about being an unmitigated, passive aggressive dick under the protective shield of childhood immaturity. As soon as Kisado returned from her vacation, Aiko leapt back into messing with her head with relish.

Once she had her start, Aiko very quickly achieved an adult level of fluency with the use of the library—with a dictionary and whatever scrolls she could find, she was all but invincible and she began to work her way through anything that looked remotely interesting. The library was restricted to non-sensitive subjects, so she learned about history, philosophy, and politics. She spent her library days alone, though. No matter how she cajoled, Naruto didn't want to sit down and improve his reading or writing. It was all that she could do to browbeat him into doing his homework assignments, now that she was advanced enough to help him.

She decided to leave it be- he was probably better off than he'd been in canon, and he hadn't really suffered long-term from his poor education in the first reality, even when he'd been functionally illiterate at age twelve.

Now that she was literate, Aiko sailed far above her civilian classmates in every subject, with the exception of the 'girl' classes. It turned out that ikebana was one of the short courses offered. Aiko managed to scrape by, memorizing textbook meanings, but she would never be really creative or skilled. The month long units on basic sewing and color-coordinating kimono were both unmitigated disasters that Aiko gave up as a bad job. Naruto actually seemed to like her sewing homework, so she gladly let him do it.

They were six when their life changed again. One day there was knock at the door. When Naruto leapt to his feet and then subsequently got tangled up in a blanket and fell, Aiko heaved a sigh and went to answer it. Her immediate reflex was to freeze up, closely followed by the impulse to slam the door. The Third Hokage smiled down at her, looking every inch the kindly grandfather.

"You must be Aiko-chan," he condescended. (Granted, if she really had been six she might not have noticed, but she did and the tone grated).

"No," she corrected. "Only Naruto can call me that. You can call me 'kun'." She tilted her head with just a hint of aggressiveness, testing the waters. He merely chuckled.

"Very well then, Aiko-kun," he corrected. "May I come in for a moment? I would like to talk to you and your brother."

Naruto's "Huh?" echoed behind her, and Aiko sighed. "Of course, come right on in," she said in a thoroughly unenthused tone. Naruto didn't seem to get the memo. He stumbled over to stare at the old man as he got comfortable in the little sitting room, clearly enchanted by the idea of having visitors.

"Who are you, old man!" He shouted, pointing directly at the interloper. Aiko gave a surprised cough and bit down on her lip to hide a smile. The old man was observant, however, and she knew that he'd seen it.

He smiled disarmingly. "My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, but most know me as the Professor or the Sandaime."

Naruto gasped theatrically. "You're the Hokage?" he shouted unnecessarily. "That's so cool!" Then he stopped and studied Sarutobi critically for a long moment. "Are… are you sure?" He tilted his head. "Because I've seen the third Hokage on the big rock and you're like two hundred years older than he is."

The old man looked a bit discomfited at this. "I'm quite sure," he deflected. "And you're Naruto-kun, yes?"

The blonde's eyes widened, and Aiko took a moment to curse him for being such an open book. "The third Hokage knows my name?" He pointed at his chest. When the old man nodded, Naruto beamed. "That's awesome! It must be because I'm so cool and stuff."

"Have you two ever considered joining the academy and becoming ninja?"

'_Ah, there's the shameless plug I was expecting_.' She kept her thoughts off her face. She was savvy enough to realize that they didn't actually have a choice. There was no way that Konoha would allow their Jinchuuriki to choose a career path like "fireman" or "circus ringleader" (Naruto's top two life goals so far). But if he made it seem like it was Naruto's idea and implied that he thought the boy would be good at it, the blonde would fight tooth and nail for a chance to prove him right.

'_He has someone reporting on us,_' she noted. That manipulation had been well-tailored to Naruto's specific issues.

Naruto hadn't spent any time lost in thought. He gawked, jaw halfway to the floor for only about a second before it snapped up into a blindingly cheerful grin. "You think we could? Hey, Aiko-chan, we're going to be ninja!" He danced around, too excited to be still. "We're going to be the coolest everywhere and fight all the bad guys with our super fastness like whoa!" he demonstrated several sloppy punches.

"I'd assumed I'd join the academy when we were old enough, yes," Aiko said neutrally. "I thought eight was the age for general admissions." She counted to five silently. '_and here's the part where you tell us you have faith in our potential or whatever so we're eternally grateful to your wrinkly ass_…'

The old man cleared his throat, clearly unaware of her hostile thoughts. "Well, rules were made to be broken," he started cheerily. He mumbled the next sentence before raising his voice again. "Just don't tell my secretary I said that. In any case, you are normally correct. Would you two like the opportunity to start early?"

"Hell yeah I would!" Naruto clenched a fist and shouted gleefully, actually jumping up and down on the couch. "You're pretty cool for such an old guy, date bayo! You know that?"

"I will treasure the sentiment," the Hokage deadpanned.

_'I_ _guess this explains how Naruto could have possibly failed the test three times_,' Aiko noted. '_Maybe they're hoping he'll excel and they'll get their weapon faster_.' She wasn't certain about that. She could probably help him graduate early, but was it worth it? The extra two years of maturing and honing skills could mean the difference between excelling and dying on some shitty, unimportant mission. Besides… wouldn't all her foreknowledge be useless if they graduated early?

'_That doesn't necessarily mean I should turn down the chance to start learning early._' She worried at her lip, mind rushing to come to an answer while the Hokage waited patiently. "I like the idea," Aiko announced.

That was clearly the right answer. The old man clapped his hands. "I am glad to hear it." His fingers curled around his walking stick and he tapped the end on the ground. "May I suggest a lunch to celebrate your entry into the Academy?"


	3. Chapter 3

Hyuuga Hinata fidgeted slightly, feeling her heart beat fast like a rabbit's. She could feel the cold seeping in through her blue sandals—it had rained sometime overnight and in the cool morning air, the training grounds were decidedly uncomfortable.

Sparring partners for the year had just been assigned. Hinata didn't want to have to fight anyone, but Haruno Sakura wasn't such a terrible opponent for her spars in the Academy style. The real problem was what had just been assigned. She barely heard the sounds of Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba arguing –something about a dead bird and Kiba's sister?—because she was too focused on the brutal way Neji-kun was taking down Uzumaki Aiko.

She dodged a half-hearted strike at her chest, dancing around it then making a low leg swing that put Haruno-san on the cold ground. Hinata winced in sympathy for her opponent and gave her a hand up, eyes darting back to Uzumaki-san. '_Why doesn't she just give up on the match_?' Hinata thought miserably. Uzumaki-san was one of the top taijutsu students in their age group (out of those who didn't have teachers at home, was the proviso there), but Neji-kun was the top student of his year, and he'd been practicing for years longer than Uzumaki-san.

It was pretty ugly. Uzumaki-s—Naruto-san, she corrected, there couldn't be two Uzumaki-sans after all, had given up on his spar with Kiba and was shouting invectives at the older boy. Kiba had joined in with a sneer. He didn't like Sasuke-san much either. None of the boys did anymore.

'_Why isn't Iruka-sensei stopping this_?' She cast a fluttery glance in the direction of the teacher, who stared impassively down the training field.

Neji darted forward, hand in the flat pose of Academy basic style and scored a hit on Aiko-san's neck before he twisted and turned around her, scoring at least five hard connections as if he was going through the vitals list. Aiko-san tried to turn with, blocking and striking back, but she wasn't nearly fast enough to stop more than a couple blows.

"Why don't you just give up?" Hinata winced at the sound of Neji-kun's voice, awkwardly dodging an unusually good hit from Haruno-san. The pink haired girl wasn't very fast, but Hinata hadn't been paying much attention to her spar. Her return was a little sharper than she'd intended. Hinata knew very well that she should be gentle with students who were just now beginning taijutsu practice. If only Neji-kun seemed to know that!

"You are not a fit partner," Neji-kun informed her. "Umino-sensei, why am I partnered with this person?" He gestured minutely. Aiko-san was bent over with one knee on the ground, an arm curled against her torso. She frowned, shaking slightly as she stood up.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, jackass!" Aiko-san lunged forward artlessly, making a feint that turned into a leg sweep. Unfortunately, Hinata saw it coming in her stiff movements, and Neji-kun did as well. She winced for Aiko-san when Neji's hand bit out at her ankle lightning-fast and twisted, taking her down to the ground. He stood impassively above her and slowly raised one eyebrow at Iruka-sensei.

"Match goes to Hyuuga-kun," Iruka-sensei finally announced. "Uzumaki-chan, go to Mizuki to run over Academy basic." Hinata flushed with embarrassment for Aiko-san. It was disgraceful to be sent to re-learn how to do basic movements, and sending her there in front of the class was unfair. Even Hinata could see that the problem wasn't that Aiko-san didn't know the movements, so didn't Iruka-sensei? She was simply outmatched by a vastly superior opponent. The only thing you can do against that kind of opponent is put up what fight you can and wait for it to be over.

"No! I'm not done yet." Aiko-san looked very angry. "You said the match wasn't over until one of us gave up."

"And now I'm saying it's over," Iruka-sensei said sharply, looking at Aiko-san with something distinctly strange in his expression. "Go. Now."

Neji-kun made a small, dissatisfied sound and flipped his hair over his shoulder, silently asking what he was to do. "Hyuuga-kun, you can run katas."

"Hai."

Hinata watched out of her peripheral as Aiko-san staggered to her feet and strode away, head held high.

* * *

Aiko fumed that night sprawled on the floor of her apartment after class was dismissed at four pm. She was alone while her brother probably did something mildly illegal with those water soluble chalks he'd walked off with earlier. Aiko hadn't really listened, but she thought he was going to go meet their distinctly canine classmate to do something horrible to the fences around the Akimichi main house. Naruto had actually managed to make something of a friend in Kiba sometime in between rounds of trying to beat each other up. Naruto seemed to have no idea he was outmatched.

Aiko, on the other hand, was very aware, and it pissed her off. Neji had batted her around like a cat would a mouse. He'd rubbed insult into injury by making it clear just how bored he was.

She choked back tears of frustration, trying to convince herself that she was far too mature to care about being humiliated in front of the class. It wasn't working very well.

The '9' year old rolled onto her belly and angrily smacked a bandaged fist against the floor. "Ugh, what an asshole!" It hurt, but it made her feel better. '_Maybe I'm starting to understand how Naruto feels about Sasuke_.' It wasn't a pleasant thought. Her stomach was angry about being empty, so she pushed herself up and grabbed the last apple from the fruit bowl. The first bite was a bit more violent than it really needed to be. Feeling thoroughly unsettled, she wandered to the little mirror hanging by the front door and checked out her reflection.

She'd always thought that this body was amazingly fast and strong. Her major priority lately had been intellectual pursuits. Sure, she worked out outside of class, but that was more maintenance than anything. She hadn't added distance to her runs or tried to cut down on time in months.

"I'm nine, and I've gotten complacent," she whined. The girl in the mirror looked sympathetic, but also filthy and bruised. She might have Uzumaki constitution, but that had nothing on Naruto's unnatural healing rate.

Feeling crabby, she put a hand over the mirror so she didn't have to look anymore and turned away to finish her fruit. She felt pretty disgusting. Usually she showered first thing after she got home, but she'd felt too lethargic. Instead, she threw away her core and strapped on her ninja sandals. _'Today, I'm going to run around the boundaries of the village twice,_' she promised herself. '_and time it, so I know how fast I need to go to beat it tomorrow._'

As it turned out, if she managed to do more than weakly jog for the entire trip, she would almost certainly beat her first time. "Oh Kami," she groaned, collapsed in the dirt just inside the village gates where she had started. The two Chuunin manning the desk pointed and snickered at her, but she didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed by just how wiped out she was. "I'm out of shape. How didn't I know I was so out of shape?"

Her calves trembled, but she forced herself back up to do some stretches. She knew damn well that if she went from running to stopped without cooling down or stretching that she would regret it later. _'Maybe I should re-think my workouts entirely_.' Aiko worked her way through a sun salutation, ignoring the curious looks she got from passersby and the rocks pressing uncomfortably against her skin. '_Running will improve my stamina and speed, but it won't build much muscle, especially upper body.' _She frowned. _'and it won't really help me with taijutsu directly. I was so sure that I had the basics down, but Neji wiped the floor with me. Sure, he's a little bigger than I am, but he's actually eleven. That's embarrassing. I should be better than he is.'_

Still, she didn't know how she could improve her taijutsu without the help of someone who knew what they were doing, besides running through katas until the motions became reflexive. That was probably part of her problem—she still had to think about the motions. But hey, literally living in your head for years will make you a cerebral person, she tried to convince herself.

It was probably six pm, but the sun was still high in the sky so she reluctantly trudged at a sad jog to the Academy ground with the obstacle course and did pull-ups until her arms trembled with the effort. That was two pull-ups… so then she got into the same position and tried to hold it instead with her chin above the bar. Her face was probably bright red and she was wheezing in what was probably the least attractive sound a kunoichi had ever made. That probably lasted about five seconds. She collapsed on the ground in a sweaty pile.

"I," she swallowed, "am pathetic." Then she banged her head against the dirt for emphasis. Instead of wallowing in self-hatred, she foisted herself up and ran through an hour's worth of remembered yoga. The ritualistic movements calmed her enough that she easily transitioned into the movements she'd been taught in class. They had obsessively run the first kata for two weeks before today's first spars, and she had thought she had a relatively good handle on the movements. Neji had shown her otherwise. She knew that he had adult help at home and years of experience with his family style, but he'd only used Academy basic to take her apart today. And he was going to be her opponent for the year? She was either going to have to get a lot better or get the shit kicked out of her every day until he graduated in two years. No, thanks!

'_Maybe that's what Iruka-sensei intended by matching me up against him_,' she mused, making a disgusted face. 'In a way… this could be a blessing in disguise. I need to get a lot better.' Then she remembered what was coming-Orochimaru-Itachi-Pein-Madara-War-Akatsuki- and shivered. '_and I need to get better __**fast**_,' she thought vehemently. All her enemies were in their prime or had decades of experience. She had short legs and enough arm muscles to hold a good-sized stick for about six seconds. Not exactly impressive.

In lieu of crying about her own lameness, Aiko whipped through the movements again. And again. Until she became dizzy and had to stop. She had no idea what time it actually was, but it was probably time to go home and start dinner. The thought made her groan. She was far too tired to want to bother. _'I have to teach Naruto to cook_.' She promised herself, _'I will, tomorrow._' Painfully, she dragged her numb body home.

* * *

Aiko started to feel like she had less and less free time for Naruto as the school year slipped by. It had been months since her disastrous first match with Neji (and the painful, equally bad matches that followed it). She was finally starting to get to a point where she could compete with him. It might have partly been that she'd hit a growth spurt—she was almost ten to his eleven, and had a good two inches on him. She had to remind herself that it wasn't an advantage she could count on—she'd be smaller than practically any other opponent. He was still stronger than she was, but Aiko had managed to improve both her speed and her blocks to the point where he almost never landed a hit on her. Of course, she couldn't get a hit on him either, which led to painfully long and boring spars.

_'At least I only get bruises on my forearms and fists now'_, she consoled herself one morning after the initial spar of the day, running her cool-down laps around the short track. It was a visible improvement on the mottled look she used to sport daily. Naruto sped by, closely followed by—was that Ino? She looked pretty pissed about something. From his position a few feet in front of her, Sasuke stiffened, then deliberately pushed his pace so that the dead last didn't lap him. Aiko felt her eye twitch in exasperation. "A cool-down isn't a competition, 'ttebane!" she shouted, knowing damn well he didn't hear her.

What she heard in response was a quiet huffing behind her. Aiko blinked and drifted to one side, twisting her head to see who was coming up behind her. "Oh hi, Hinata-chan." She flashed a toothy grin.

Hinata's porcelain pale skin flushed a little, and she drew her arms closer to her body. She didn't slow down or avert her eyes, however. "Ah, hello, Aiko-san." She visibly hesitated. "You did well in your spar today," Hinata added meekly.

"Thank you, that's very nice of you to say. I saw part of yours too. Your foot work is really good," she praised_. 'Hinata was always lacking in confidence, right_?' "Is Sakura-san a nice partner to have?"

Hinata nodded, looking more comfortable when she wasn't the topic. "Haruno-san is getting better every day. I am glad to work with her."

The conversation died off, but after that Aiko started to notice just how much Hinata watched her when she sparred with Neji. Now that she knew to look, it was easy to see that Hinata's attention often wandered. When it did, she pushed Sakura harder—almost as if she thought she was the one fighting Neji. Aiko didn't say anything.

October came and went- she and Naruto spent their birthday alone at home, despite the minor festival going on outside. She never actually beat Neji, but she was getting to a point where the blows that landed on his forearms (he was scary good at blocking) actually seemed to do something more than glance off. She could tell because his expression would tighten and he'd do his level best to beat the absolute crap out of her after she hit him. Naruto finally noticed her growth spurt, and was righteously furious that he didn't have one to match. He determinedly ate vegetables for a full week before quitting when he saw no improvement.

One Friday, she was idly rewriting the Lord of the Rings (in decidedly more pedestrian language, because she was certainly not a linguist or real author and had probably forgotten tons of stuff and made up almost as much) while pretending to take notes when Iruka announced he would be handing out the information sheets for potential graduates. When she got one, Aiko snorted and tried to hand it back. "Ano, sensei, there's been a mistake." He didn't take it.

"No, there hasn't," he said calmly. "You will be graduating this semester." He leaned in closely and gave her a stern expression. "All your teachers know you will be ready to graduate. Don't fail intentionally to stay with your brother. You're ready to move on, and he isn't. You won't do either of you any favors by flunking the year." Then he moved on to the next row, leaving her almost completely stunned. One part of her wasn't surprised.

'_They were probably testing me when they put me against Neji,_' she registered far too late. '_Testing to see if I could get taijutsu up to genin standards in a year. I'm so stupid. Of course they think I'm a prodigy—my parents were and I'm performing well. Oh, kami'_.

She looked up and it finally registered that Naruto was staring at her, as were several other students. Overall, the exchange seemed to have gone unnoticed. Instead of looking at it, Aiko shuffled the paper under her notebook and bent down again, trying to look engrossed.

It had honestly never occurred to her that she would be separated from Naruto. They entered the Academy the same year, after all. And he would graduate with his age group.. in… the… manga.

If it wouldn't have looked strange, she would have taken that opportunity to bang her head against the desk. '_Stupid, stupid! What happens to Naruto in the manga means nothing about you!'_

Naruto gave her weak congratulations that night and fled to sleep on the couch. Aiko stayed up late, too busy thinking to fall asleep. Maybe she should take the opportunity- did she even have a choice, anyway? If she intentionally held herself back… well, she became one of Konoha's military resources when she entered the Academy, and the Hokage was her legal guardian.

So no. She didn't have a choice. If she tried to fail, she would just get reported for sabotaging military resources (a proviso usually used to force alcoholics to slow down or get sneakier).

With that in mind, she dutifully practiced the E-ranked jutsu the Academy had taught in the last month. Aside from the three she'd known about –Kawarimi, Henge, and the Clone- she'd also managed to master the finger-spark jutsu (used for burning paper evidence or lighting cigarettes) and managed to manifest one chakra string of an inch's length that could grab light objects. She'd wondered why the manga had never shown these, but then the answer seemed obvious. Sakura was competent but wouldn't have pushed for extra non-book work, Sasuke had better fire jutsu and used wires for that purpose, and Naruto… well, he'd barely mastered the three essentials (or a close approximation of them, anyway). Over the next week, she mercilessly drilled herself until she could replicate clothes down to the direction of a weave and switch with objects she couldn't even see.

Just as predicted, she easily breezed through the graduation exam- she led a team of first-years through a new obstacle course, dispelled a genjutsu, showed off her basic three jutsu in a low-pressure environment, and completed a three minute spar against Mizuki while Iruka took notes. When she landed a real hit, she was absolutely shocked by what a genius Neji must be. She took the opportunity to land several painful hits on Mizuki, but was eventually taken down into a panting mess. She was satisfied, though- she got extra points for thinking to use kawarimi in a mock combat session. It was a little unsporting, but 'unsportsmanlike' was practically a compliment to ninja. The kunai, shuriken, and paper tests weren't really even worth speaking about… they were embarrassingly easy.

She received her headband, one on the standard blue fabric. Aiko found something vaguely disturbing about a ten year old in the standard military color. That night, she painstakingly scrubbed it with sand to dull the shine and pulled the stitches keeping it on the band. She cut up the bodice of a yellow dress that didn't fit anymore to make a new headband and secured it, playing with angles to find out how she wanted to wear it. It felt strange on her forehead and she looked silly with it hanging around her neck. She liked it as a belt and a headband, so when she left the next morning she was wearing it around her waist and a jerry-rigged headband to match.

'_I feel vaguely like batman_,' she thought, checking herself out in the bathroom mirror. There was something strangely satisfying about her new look. She'd slipped into skin-tight black pants (basically leggings) that reached just below her knees and a short-sleeved tunic in the same color that reached halfway down her thighs. She tugged at her leaf insignia. '_This is a pretty poor utility belt, though_.' She momentarily amused herself by imaging pulling a gigantic batarang out of it… then she realized that with the use of seal that could be done. She could make her forehead protector into a small arsenal. The thought amused her. Then she took off the headband and ran her fingers through her hair, frowning at the length.

Her hair never failed to fascinate her peers- despite what looked like a plausible (if a bit rare) color to her, strawberry blonde hair apparently wasn't a thing here. It wasn't very long—it only reached a few inches past her collarbones. '_Still… I don't look like a real shinobi. I look like a little girl playing dress up._' That in mind, she carefully but inexpertly hacked at it with a kunai, letting hairs pile up in the sink. She cut it as short as Naruto's in the back, with bangs that fell just above her eyes, but left herself chin-length locks on either side of her face… Mostly because she didn't want to look like a boy. She turned around, experimentally tossing her hair. It looked like a very messy version of Hinata's hair at age twelve, she thought.

'_Or Minato's_,' she realized. Aiko frowned. '_That might be a little bit of a faux-pas… Well. Too late now_.' She smiled at her reflection and pulled her headband back on. As she walked past her blue sandals sitting by the front door, she grimaced a little. '_I need to get some black sandals. I'm making a mental note- tonight, after I meet my team.' _The thought sent exciting shivers up her spine. Aiko preoccupied herself in the kitchen. She was going to have her own team, like a real ninja. By the time Naruto had stumbled into the bathroom for the morning (and yelled something incoherent and vaguely accusatory about the mess in the sink) she had breakfast and was finishing arranging two bento.

"Whoa! Your hair!" Naruto wailed, skidding into the kitchen. "It was so pretty, Aiko-chaaaaan! What'd you do that for?"

Aiko turned to give him an amused look, pouring herself some hot peach tea. She set it down on the table and walked off to the fridge. "Pretty, yes, but it wasn't practical. I'm a ninja now and I should look like one."

"There are ninjas with long hair," he argued. "I've seen them." She shut the fridge and slid the orange juice across the table to him. He took it sullenly and grabbed for his empty glass with his other hand.

"Yeah, but they're better ninja than I am." She pulled out her seat. "Having long hair is a sign of status, kind of. It's a declaration that you're good enough as a ninja to compensate for the disadvantages of possibly obscured vision and a hand-hold for enemies in close combat. I'm a fresh genin; I'm nowhere near that good. Besides…" She touched her new spikes. "I like it like this."

"I wish you weren't leaving," he said suddenly.

Aiko frowned, feeling uncomfortable. "I'm not really leaving, you know," she pointed out. "I still live with you. I'm not going to be leaving the village for a long time. My first missions will all be in the village. While you're in school, I'm going to be doing lame stuff like weeding gardens and painting fences." She made a fence.

Naruto flailed, spilling some juice. "What?! Why would you do that?"

"That's what D-rank missions are like," she said, amused by his ignorance. He really was cute when he overreacted like that. "Since I'm graduating young, they're not going to want me out of the village for a long time. I'm a little jealous of you, in a way. You'll probably spend a lot less time on D-ranks than I will."

He pointed and laughed at her for a while. She huffed and stood, brushing non-existent crumbs off her shirt. "Don't be a brat, Naruto. Hey, you need to get dressed."

He gave her a vaguely superior look. "Aiko, it's Saturday. I don't have class. Have fun at school!" he snickered. She stuck her tongue out at him and jammed her feet into her sandals.

"Hey, toss me my bento. Thanks." She shut the door behind her and set off for the Academy at an easy run. At one point she had to stop and stare at a person who just had to be Maito Gai. Granted, he was wearing completely normal ninja attire, and his hair didn't seem to be slicked down, so she might not have picked him out of a crowd if he'd been walking down the street. She could tell because he was walking on his hands and balancing a cactus on his feet, tongue sticking out a little with concentration. She waved weakly, feeling a little shell-shocked. He transferred the potted plant to one foot and waved at her with the other leg. He seemed to be concentrating too much to actually speak, so she let it be and backed away slowly.

The classroom she was to wait in was nearly full, and she recognized almost no one in it. Most of the kids here were from the other classrooms. Some of them gave her strange looks, but no one called her out. Aiko took a seat at the back of the classroom (she liked having a wall to her back and waited.

Iruka came in with Mizuki at his side and a scroll. She barely listened to his spiel (something about adulthood and responsibility) and only perked up once he began to read off teams. Team by team left the room… and she suddenly realized that it didn't look like the kids in the classroom ended up as a dividend of three. Alarmed, she began to count to be sure. 3-6-9-12-…13… There were thirteen students in the room…. Seven… and then it was just her and Iruka-sensei was rolling up the scroll.

"Um… Sensei?" she said dumbly. Mizuki gave a quiet snicker, but didn't comment. Iruka looked vaguely sympathetic when he avoided her gaze and stuttered that her sensei should be by to get her soon, wait here please.

Then they left and she was alone… with a sinking feeling.

"Oh hell, I'm going to be waiting here a while, aren't I?"

* * *

Next time : Genin testing, and something that can loosely be termed a political assassintation

* * *

Chapter Word Total: 4,346

Story Word Total: 22,243

Edited 11/19/2013 for typos


	4. Chapter 4

The Academy classroom had long been emptied. The lone girl inside had long ago eaten her bento and it was almost time for dinner. It was dark outside, and those goddamn crickets just wouldn't shut up. For a long, terrible moment, Aiko gave serious thought to senbon practice. But that would be ridiculous. She couldn't possibly kill all the noisy bugs in the world, could she?

'_I could try_,' she thought darkly.

Luckily, that was when the classroom door slid open and a man who could only be Kakashi stepped in, nonchalant as you please. She lifted her head off the desk and swiveled to look at him. Aiko's eyes narrowed. He'd made her wait far longer than the anime had indicated. Was it because he was testing her especially harshly, a simple coincidence, or just because he was less ready to deal with his dead sensei's child?

"My first impression… you're a shrimp."

"And mine is that you're an inconsiderate asshat!" she snapped. Then she slapped a hand over her mouth and flushed. '_There goes the good impression…'_

He seemed stunned by being called 'the hat of the ass' (so it didn't translate well, whatever), but recovered in time to tell her to "Meet me up on the roof."

And then he was gone in _that damned smoke_. She coughed, waving it out of her face. Instead of heading down the hall to the staircase, she pushed the window open and cautiously swung out onto the ledge, slowly and carefully walking up the side of the building. She should be able to do this for three stories if she concentrated. Even at her cautious pace, she'd save about five minutes off the walk. '_He's probably counting on some time to read before I get there,_' she snickered. Her foot slipped once on the crumbly brick surface, but she quickly regained her footing. Aiko curled her fingers around the metal bar at the top of the railing on the roof and kicked outward to flip over it entirely and land semi-gracefully.

Her sensei looked up from his book, completely bored. "Maaa, took you long enough. Alright. Tell me about you." He monotoned, flipped a page, giving the impression that the question was standard.

Aiko felt an eyebrow twitch. She'd known what to expect, but he was just so damn rude. "Uzumaki Aiko, as you damn well know. I'm ten and I like my brother slightly more than chocolate. I'd kill for either of them in the right circumstances. I'd ask about you, but I bet you wouldn't answer."

He stood, ignoring her. "Well, now that we know each other, I should tell you about the genin test. It's pretty funny, actually." He chuckled darkly.

"Let me guess, one out of three or some other ridiculously high number fails, then I panic and you disappear before I can ask questions. Spooky spooky." She wiggled her fingers at him, distinctly unimpressed.

Kakashi frowned at her, wrinkling his mask. "I don't like you. Meet me at training ground seven at five am." Then she was alone on the roof.

"Well, that was a fantastic waste of my time." She paused for a long moment. "And where is training ground seven?"

That night, she and Naruto ate raw cookie dough instead of dinner and watched tv. It wasn't very good- she recognized it as some sort of monster movie, but it definitely wasn't one she was familiar with from her old world. Sometimes she thought this place was some weird splinter reality from Japan- the language was similar and shared vocabulary, and she recognized several of the legends. The technology was completely inexplicable, though. It wasn't very advanced from her perspective, but it was still strange it had developed along some similar lines.

* * *

Kakashi relaxed in his perch in a tree above the clearing in training ground seven. As five am came and went without a student in sight, he started to wish he'd spent more time at the memorial stone. His one normal eye was fixated on his book even now, when there was no one to act for. His other senses were scanning the area rigidly, however.

He'd wondered what Minato's kids were like. Sure, he'd seen glances of them from a distance, but that didn't tell him much. Well. Okay, it did—he saw that the boy was loud and mischievous in a way that pained him –like_ObitoObitoObito_- though his apparent stupidity was baffling, where had **that** come from? The girl was much quieter. Someone seemed to be taking care of them, as they appeared well-fed and dressed. They were each painful to look at in their own way- the boy was like a tiny Minato clone with Kushina's exuberant personality. The girl looked like a perfect blend of her parents' coloring with what he fancied was Minato's serious mien.

The child he was thinking about meandered into his space of awareness and he lowered _Icha Icha Sexy_ to eye her. She was dressed much the same as yesterday. It was a strange combination of minimalism and that eye-gouging yellow (_andthathaircut, it was like Minato's coincidenceornot?_). Today he spotted a single weapons pouch secured to her leg, which was an improvement. He'd wondered if she fancied herself good enough at taijutsu to not need any weaponry. His leg twitched. His body was clearly eager to get back to the stone (_taking an apprentice was a painful parallel; what would Sensei think would he laugh Kakashi-kun you have no patience_), but he'd wanted to see her when she thought she was unobserved to get a read on her. He wasn't sure what it meant that she wandered in six minutes late, seemingly unconcerned about disobeying her first order from a superior officer. The child didn't even look around for him.

Kakashi felt a little affronted- she shouldn't be jaded enough to assume there was no way he'd show up on time yet- and pouted from his perch while she unloaded what looked like a bento (yum, perhaps he'd borrow that) and slipped off her sandals before engaging in what looked like the strangest warm up he had ever seen. He almost considered uncovering his other eye to try to find some sort of meaning in the way she folded over with her hands on her feet, then slid them to the ground and stepped back to some sort of plank. '_Maybe a stretch_?' The 24 year-old shifted uncomfortably. '_No point in spending much time here_,' he decided, leaping away silently. '_I can't fail her. Hokage-sama made that clear'_.

The Hokage had actually forcibly retired him from ANBU specifically for this assignment, actually. He wasn't sure if it was sentimentality or vicious practicality. He was, after all, the last living person to be familiar with both of her parents' techniques. A lot of Kushina's were unique and couldn't be performed by someone outside the bloodline. Reviving those techniques would do a lot for village morale and how they looked to enemies. Having not one but two children from the union of two of the greatest heroes of the last war—well, those kids were resources the Sandaime would have had to be crazy to waste. That wasn't her fault, of course. He was still going to punish her by making her wait.

He wasn't ready to confront living reminders of how he'd failed everyone he'd ever loved.

* * *

When the itch on the back of her neck left, Aiko breathed a sigh of relief. It was probably paranoia, but she'd felt like she was being watched. '_Don't be stupid_,' she scolded herself. 'You're just excited about beginning real training.'

When her warm-up was done, she tried to kill time by running through handseals to improve her dexterity and accuracy. When her fingers began to feel sore, she performed from stretches on the ground. Then she paced for a while, wishing she had brought a book. She had a short spar with a tree, pretending it was Neji. Then she climbed the Neji-tree only using chakra in her hands and hung upside down on a branch from her knees. Her sensei didn't announce his presence so much as suddenly appear directly in front of her face.

Aiko shrieked in surprise, reflexively batting at him and swinging away to crouch on the tree trunk. She didn't hit him, of course, but he seemed mildly amused by the attempt. "Maah, what kind of greeting is that?" He pretended to look sorrowful.

"The kind you merit," she said dryly, "You creeper. Seriously, why would you pop up in my face like that?"

"I had no idea you were here," he lied easily, "I was too distracted by heavy thoughts. You see, I found a poor stray mama cat who had lost her kittens and I helped her track them all down, but now I'm thinking that perhaps I should have escorted them all the way back to their home."

There was a long moment of silence.

'_I can't believe he really says things like that'_ was warring with '_if the cat is a stray, what home is she going to?'_

She swallowed all comments. "I see." Aiko wished she knew what to expect. Obviously, she couldn't be tested on teamwork like the original team seven would be, since she had no team per say. What else did Kakashi care about in students? Dedication and insight, perhaps.

"Today… We will be sparring until I can determine the extent of your capabilities." Kakashi eyed the sudden slump of his student's shoulders and wondered if that meant she disliked sparring or that he'd disappointed her expectations. No matter. "Come at me with intent to kill." He chuckled lowly just for effect. "Trust me, you'll need to be trying your best." He raised his visible eyebrow when she remained completely still, gazing at him impassively. "Well?"

Then she attacked. After a few moments to get his bearings and merely blocking her blows (she hit like a girl her age, but a relatively strong one) he adjusted the level he was fighting at to mid-chuunin levels so that he could easily overpower her without hurting her too badly. He thought he had overestimated her for a second when a punch sent her reeling, but her quick recovery turned her retreat into a side-step attempt to flank him. He didn't let it work, but he noted that she seemed to have a good understanding of the fact that she had no chance of defeating him head-on. That showed some tactical thinking. She didn't look irritated that her feint failed- almost as if she'd never expected it to. Her taijutsu was acceptable genin levels. '_I can work with that, at least_.'

He could see the moment she decided to switch tactics- largely because her eyes narrowed and her chakra rose up. She created three bunshin copies of herself and then did a kawarimi with one of them in the smoke –not too bad—and then all girls simultaneously used kawarimi not once but twice (this reminded him of that game with rice under a cup, he'd always been good at the game. The trick was seeing when the rice was taken out.)

Just as he'd suspected, she had made a fourth clone at some point and they all rushed him. The girl herself was clinging to a tree and drawing out a shuriken in each hand. The instant he'd destroyed the second clone was when she released the projectiles in a line aimed at his face. He dodged with a faint smile.

'So that's genin-level taijutsu, decent aerial weaponry skills, some tactical thinking… What about genjutsu?'

In an instant he disappeared from her field of vision. He could sense her vitals spike in alarm and restrained a chuckle. Oh, cute. He whipped through the symbols for a standard Hell-Viewing technique and used the movement of leaves in the wind to catch her in it. She wavered on her perch on the tree—and for one second he moved forward to catch her, he should probably have waited for her to be on the ground—but she outright yelled "KAI" and shook her head, looking disgruntled. She regained her footing but he was already below her. She chose to kick off and fall directly at him, kunai in hand.

He smirked. Instead of side-stepping and letting her hit the ground, he looked up calmly and snatched her right out of the air, grabbing her under her arms then switching his grip almost immediately to her upper arms, which he twisted behind her and used to easily force her to the ground. Her chest hit the dirt with an 'Oof!' and he kept her there with a foot planted on her back. She huffed irritably and turned her face to glare at him with one eye. He smiled mildly down at her.

There was a sudden burst of weak killing intent and she began to struggle. Kakashi frowned. "Hey now, don't do that," he chided. "You could break something when I'm holding you like this. Admit when you've lost."

"Yes, sensei," she scowled. "I give up."

"That's what I was looking for." He released her and stepped back, calmly watching her regain her footing and snap to attention. "Well," he began contemplatively, tapping his chin, "It's a shame… but I'll guess you'll have to do." He watched her reaction- what kind of kid had she grown up to be? She rolled her eyes, but didn't look all that affronted. That was acceptable. He didn't want to be stuck with a brat who got their hackles up at everything.

He stepped away, then looked over his shoulder as if his next statement was an afterthought. "I suppose I should tell you to meet me at Hokage Tower at eight am tomorrow to get your first mission." He lazily raised one hand, then flickered away, eager to be away from the gir—his student. Ugh, what a terrible thought.

* * *

Aiko considered dragging herself home, feeling soreness in pretty much every muscle she had. Taijutsu with a Jounin was not fun, not fun at all. She felt tired and not exactly eager… Meeting with Kakashi had made her realize just how emotionally distant and eager to flee he was. Since she didn't have a team, she was going to be spending a lot of time alone. She'd never been the type of person who needed a ton of socialization, but she would be getting pretty lonely if she spent her days alone and only nights with Naruto.

It was barely noon and she'd been abandoned for the day. Was she meant to keep up with her same workout routine? She had hoped to get some instruction from him. He hadn't told her anything about whatever conclusions he'd come to about her level- no praise or critiques.

Since she was already there- and was finally considered mature enough to use a real training ground, that was an improvement, right? – Aiko pushed herself through the motions of a workout. She concentrated on sprints and building leg muscle through lunges, then transitioned to working on her flexibility until the strain in her joints bordered on painful. Her next self-designed training exercise was meant to combine agility and chakra control: She flipped counter to gravity in the tree tops in increasingly acrobatic stunts, keeping her breathing even and flinging kunai at falling leaves to pin them to tree trunks. She counted the kunai that hit trees without snagging their leaves and was relatively satisfied, but knew that she needed to continue working on accuracy with moving targets. Aiko had no plans to specialize with aerial weaponry, but she was sure that using the skill in real combat was nothing like flinging kunai at a stationary pole while standing still at a certain distance.

She ate her prepared bento once she was done under the shade of the trees, laying on her back and cloud watching. That done, Aiko meandered home, trying not to look too wistfully at the Academy age children playing in the streets. She didn't see Naruto but she did see the unmistakable signs of his passing- a series of plastic tatters from broken balloons and bright, inky stains on light colored buildings and signs.

"Hey, Uzumaki!"

She stopped, mildly surprised. "Ino-san?"

Judging by the uncharacteristic dirt on Ino's white shorts and her messy ponytail, she'd been doing something like gardening. The shorter girl put her hands on her hips, tilted them sassily, and scowled at her. "I heard you graduated, but I just couldn't believe it. You're our age! How'd you do that?"

"Well, I was enrolled four years," she pointed out.

Ino's eyes widened. "No way!" she exclaimed in disgust. "You're ten like me."

She shrugged. "We started early." Aiko shot her former classmate a weak smile. "Sorry?"

Ino waved the apology away. "Don't be ridiculous, you don't have anything to apologize for. Hey, walk with me. I'm supposed to pick up from colored paper for the flower shop."

"Sounds fine," Aiko agreed easily. She glanced down at herself and grimaced. "I'm pretty gross right now from training, though."

"Do you have a super-cool sensei? What's your team like?" The blonde girl shot out, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Actually, I don't have a team," she sighed. "It's a bit of a disappointment actually. My sensei… Hmm. Well, he's very skilled, but also very distant from what I can tell. I'm sure I will learn a lot from him, but I wish I had a team."

"I bet I know my team," Ino groused. "My dad told me once that his genin team intentionally had their kids within a few months so that they could have a second generation of their team. Creepy, right? And the boys are so weird!" She threw her hands up in disgust. "All they ever want to do is lay around and eat." She gave Aiko a dirty look. "And you- you were supposed to be my competition for top kunoichi of the year. Now you've gone and shown me up."

Aiko shrugged helplessly. Before she could say a thing, the blonde had continued. "I'm happy for you, of course, but you were really the only other girl who took this seriously. I thought Sakura had potential…"

When Ino trailed off miserably, Aiko shot her an inquisitive look. Last she'd seen, the two girls were practically attached at the hip. "Is something wrong?"

Ino flushed. "Well, yeah! I helped Sa-Forehead girl out for years, and all of a sudden she tells me she doesn't want to be my friend anymore because we like the same guy." Despite her tough act, her dejection was pretty obvious.

Aiko averted her eyes and tried to look like she was surprised. "I'm sorry to hear that. That's dumb. It was really short-sighted to put a boy before both her career and her best friend."

"That's what I thought," Ino grumbled, before she perked up. "I guess that means I'm in the market for a friend, huh? And you need one too, or you're going to go nuts with just your old person sensei for company." She flashed a mischievous grin. "Hey, wanna help me train? I bet you're going to get really strong, working one-on-one all the time. It'd only be fair to help out your Academy rival."

_'Well, that was subtle._' "Sure," she laughed. "Once I know my regular schedule, we can plan out a training schedule. How's that sound?"

"I'll hold you to that," Ino nodded seriously. They stopped outside the general store.

"I'm going to leave you here." Aiko pulled at her shirt and grimaced. "I need to get home and clean up, desperately."

With a wrinkled nose, Ino agreed. "I wasn't going to say anything, but yes. You do. Later!"

Aiko felt an eye twitch coming on. '_Does this girl need someone to be frenemies with, or is she really just that rude?'_

* * *

Monday, January 5.

Her first mission was lame. D-rank missions were utterly vile, she decided, and she had definitely gotten cheated by being a one person team. Kakashi certainly wasn't helping. Actually… She looked around. He wasn't even in sight. Aiko huffed, blowing a longer piece of hair out of her face because her hands were filthy from carrying chemicals around.

'_Boy am I glad I had that Academy lecture on safely handling dangerous materials_,' she snarked internally. This mission was just manual labor- it would have been given to civilian teams if the junk she was carrying out of a home that was about to be demolished wasn't unsafe. It needed to be disposed of in several different places, depending on substance. She'd found everything ranging from super-expired cleaners, congealed paints, bottles of human blood (disgusting!) and homemade poisons.

With obvious exceptions that she knew better than to touch, some of the more benign household item type stuff was interesting to the really terrible, naught, Naruto-ish part of her mind. Since no one was around to care, Aiko snagged a few interesting materials and some empty glass vials. '_May as well experiment… I bet that this would make an epic smoke bomb.'_

After she had finally finished, Aiko mixed together her dreamed-up concoctions (using gloves and a mask) and carefully poured them into three glass bottles that she stoppered and held up to the light. The end result was a pretty blue color… and she immediately tested it in training ground seven by tossing it at a tree a decent distance away (she didn't want to breathe it in). Somewhat strangely, the glass didn't shatter on impact. Instead, it cracked and bounced off into the bushes.

Aiko cursed quietly, wondering if it was safe to approach. She didn't know if it had gone off or not. That is, she didn't know until a horrid yowl split the air and she jumped, first in fright and then to a higher position to see what had happened.

Her concoction did actually seem to form a respectable amount of smoke (who says Naruto was the only one with a mind for chemicals, ha!). It was what she saw when the smoke faded that worried her.

"Oh, shit." She broke off a stick and gently poked at the prone animal she'd found, hoping for good news but already knowing what had happened. "I killed a cat." The thing looked like it had died horribly- it was in a strange pose as if it had convulsed, and blood was leaking from the nose and mouth. Good thing she hadn't breathed in the smoke herself. Aiko bit at her lip. "I'm sorry little guy. You were probably just minding your own business, hanging out in the wild. Maybe you're Kakashi's stray cat. Oh kami, I killed Kakashi's cat. He's going to kill me. And Naruto! What would Naruto think if he knew I killed a helpless little kitty cat?!"

The corpse seemed to be staring at her accusingly through eyes that were quickly glazing over.

She quietly hyperventilated for a few long moments, trying to repress the panic. When that didn't work, she forced it away by pacing and trying to think. "Okay, just stop. I… I need to destroy the evidence. Cremation is respectful, right?"

It turned out that in her adrenaline-fueled haze, even the silly sparking jutsu could get a decent fire going. She coughed, trying to wave the foul-smelling smoke away from her face. "That's foul." She began to cry. _'I'm a terrible human being. I killed a kitty cat—I'm a terrible ninja! My first casualty was a kitty_.'

Somehow her brain had time to conjure up the image of her rotting in jail, explaining to other inmates that she was in for cat murder. That definitely wasn't a respectable ninja action.

_'I really hope that isn't Kakashi's cat... If it is, I orphaned a litter of kittens.'_

She did her level best not to cry at the thought. Her eyes darted around, looking for other evidence. There were scorch marks on the ground…_ 'Well, accidentally starting a forest fire would be the exact opposite of subtle.' _ Terrible human being or not, she wanted Naruto to find out about this absolutely never. That meant no one could know. With that in mind, Aiko ran the hundred meters to the river and gathered up a huge glob of chakra-soaked water in her hands, stumbling back to the scene of the crime post-haste. She splashed it on the area, making sure to leave no trace embers. It was still obvious that something had happened there…

_'But would that matter_?' She took a long look around the training field. The earth was gouged with holes, some of which were full of water. The trees were scarred from kunai and other weapons, shards of rocks scattered the grounds, and more than one tree looked decidedly crispy. Her little patch of scorched ground didn't look that suspicious, really.

She gathered the two unused bottles and disposed of them quietly on her way home. If her eyes were a bit haunted, Naruto certainly didn't notice that night when he slurped down his oden.

_'No one will ever know_.'

* * *

Friday, January 9.

"I can't understand it," the Sandaime Hokage groused to his civilian secretary who looked more than a bit sympathetic. "I've had three experienced genin teams fail to find the Fire Lady's cat. This is just ridiculous." He finished signing the papers with a flourish and handed them off. He added in an undertone, "If she comes by again to ask me about her precious baby, I'm not in. You hear me?"

* * *

Next Time : Aiko gets a real mission; Kakashi is a real pain

* * *

Chapter Word Total : 4,274

Story Word Total : 26,517


	5. Chapter 5

"Good news, minion. You get your first C-class mission."

An orange wobbled dangerously and then escaped the brown paper bag she was carrying. Before she had time to even yelp, her teacher had caught it with one hand and gently placed it back on top. "Are you serious?" Aiko tried to keep both the incredulousness and the hope out of her voice. Almost two months of mind-numbing manual labor had all but beat the hope for better missions out of her. Her teacher gave a deep chuckle as a warm hand came down on top of her hair and messed it up. She turned her head slightly to glower, not willing to give him the reaction he wanted. "What's that supposed to do, my hair is already a mess," she deadpanned.

"So uncute," he sighed. His hand left her head to turn a page. "We have a mission scheduled for two days from now."

He didn't seem to be joking. "Why would we know about it so far in advance?" she asked, curious.

"Oh, I need to whip you into shape first."

'_Why does his voice have to sound so damn good saying such awful things_?' Aiko felt herself deflate. "Mean sensei. I'm not fat."

"Never said you were," he said easily. "But I need to be sure you have the stealth to sneak past sleeping civilians."

"Ouch," she groused, feigning pain in her heart. "That hurts me right here, sensei." She rearranged her grip on the bags she was holding. "Could you knock for me? Thank you." When the door opened, the tired woman standing there looked ridiculously grateful. As soon as her hands were free, Aiko rubbed at her aching arm muscles while the client rustled in her purse for a tip. Without even looking up, the civilian woman stuck out a leg in a ninja-worthy move that stopped the toddler behind her from escaping into the street. "Thank you ma'am, have a nice day!" She bowed politely, eyeing the pig-tailed vermin that was struggling futilely towards the open door.

As soon as the door shut, Kakashi sardonically commented, "If only my student was that cute. How did I get stuck with such a serious brat?"

"Yeah, whatever old man. Maybe if you were as pretty as she was, I'd wear pigtails," Aiko shot back. "We both got the short end of the stick." She didn't really believe that, but she'd hate to compliment him before he really taught her anything.

"I'm not old," he said, sounding honestly perplexed. She didn't buy it for a moment.

* * *

Stealth training turned out to be just another excuse for Kakashi-sensei to be a giant dick, Aiko concluded the next morning when she showed up for training. "This is all just a joke to you, isn't it," she said flatly, handling the 'supplies' as if they were poisonous. The paper, ink, and perfume very well could have been, but they weren't this time. She would have preferred poison.

He hmmed. "Not at all, Aiko-chan. I think that this will gage your skill quite nicely. If you can sneak past your age counterparts in the Academy, you can almost certainly sneak past civilians."

"But this?" she said miserably, staring at the pink paper.

"Think of it as incentive. You'll be extra careful not to get caught leaving embarrassing love notes, won't you?"

"You're a sick bastard."

"What was that?" He perked his head. "You want to leave one for Hyuuga Neji? And his cousin Hinata too, how daring. I'm sure Hiashi won't mind at all if you break into his home to double-time his heir with his nephew." A single leaf blew past them on the street. For a hysterical moment, Aiko thought that it should have been tumbleweed instead. She swallowed, feeling herself begin to sweat just a little bit. There was no way she could sneak around the Hyuuga estate. And Hinata's dad… Well, he might literally kill her and blame it on the Inuzuka or something.

"Your hair looks great today, sensei. Did I mention that earlier? And wow, have you lost weight?"

"Very funny. Get to work writing your great romance, hime. I'll be checking them."

They didn't meet again until well after sunset at 11:30. Once he was finally satisfied with both the wording and scent ("You 'admire' this person? How unoriginal. Wouldn't you say that he lights your heart on fire, or that you drown in the ocean of his eyes every time you look into them? No, the fact that his eyes are brown is irrelevant." and "You're lucky I'm not making you use your own perfume, even a thick Academy student might figure that out"). He had her break into the Academy to copy some student records. In the first remotely considerate move he had made that night, Kakashi let Aiko choose her targets instead of picking them for her. She didn't spend too long trying to figure out A. Who she thought she could sneak past and B. who wouldn't embarrass her if she were to be caught. As they ran to the first house, he mused "Do you think they'll be flattered or frightened to wake up to a love note on their pillows?"

'_and why do they have to be left directly on pillows, instead of just beside the bed?_' The girl knew better than to say things like that aloud. Her sensei would only think of some new and exciting restriction- like the note had to be taped to the recipient's face, or she could only hop on her left foot or something.

"No matter what happens, I'm hoping that they're not flattered enough to try and figure it out," Aiko muttered. It wasn't entirely impossible that one of them could track her down. '_I only wish I could see Ami's face when she realizes someone stood next to her bed while she slept. Maybe she'll straighten up after a shock to the system like that._' She was the first target. The girl had never bothered Aiko herself, but that was more because Aiko didn't exude weakness than because Ami was kind.

All five note drops went off without a hitch, thankfully. Aiko even took a single strand of hair from each recipient/victim for incontrovertible proof. Kakashi must have a nose like a dog, because he sniffed each one to verify (and why was he familiar with the smells of academy children?). She finally finished at what must have been two a.m.

Her teacher seemed to want to be responsible for once, walking her all the way home. "So, what have you learned?"

"My former classmates need better security," she said flatly.

"And?"

"And that I do have the necessary skills to sneak past an average civilian."

"Hmm. Exactly." He yawned, clearly disinterested in her. "Here's a life lesson for you—improve your traps so you aren't an easy target like that."

"Thanks for saying goodbye," she muttered to the space where he had been until an instant ago. Aiko sighed, rubbing under her tired eyes with one hand while she jiggled her key in the door. She fell in bed fully dressed, feeling pathetically grateful that tomorrow wasn't one of her early mornings where she met with Ino for a workout.

She woke up with a note taped to her forehead. It was unsigned, but it said, "Improve your traps."

They left for their first C-class mission as a team in the evening. Aiko had debated over what to bring for a while, but ended up only filling her leg holster and attaching the weird hip/lower back pouch that was standard equipment for other travel supplies. Her sensei raised a sardonic eye at her when they met at the gate. "What, no tent or sleeping roll?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's too warm for it to be worth carrying. We're only going to be gone one night, and I'm wearing long sleeves."

He chuckled. "Practical."

Their mission was one by request of the Fire Daimyo himself. Apparently he was trying to cheer up his wife, who had recently suffered a death in the family. Aiko was torn- on one hand, it seemed sweet to make a grand gesture of affection. On the other hand, said gesture was stealing a jewelry set from a noblewoman who had snubbed the Lady in court.

'_Rich people are fucking weird_,' she eventually decided.

Still, if it paid the bills, it wasn't her job to complain about little things like morality. The dossier had claimed that the jewels had been stolen, (as if it was important to improve how bad the request looked to paid assassins, she'd scoffed) but Aiko didn't believe that for a red-hot minute.

"I'll be following to insure your safety," Kakashi said quietly from his position behind her. She peered at the courtyard walls from her location in the shadows. "But this is your operation. You know your route?"

"Yes," she replied, just as quietly. Then she switched to handsigns. Aiko rather imagined she could feel him stiffen in surprise- he hadn't taught those to her. She repressed a smirk- she'd asked Iruka sensei to teach her. He had been too busy, but she'd gotten tutored in it by the woman who had helped her with court-style calligraphy (she had had _a lot_ of time back in the Academy to spend in specialization classes, since she had spent two years sitting out of taijutsu practice).

**I take left path. Go now?**

He signed back, **Go**.

She darted across the grounds, setting on palm on the wall and then flipping up and over into the inner courtyard. Her landing in an iris garden was quiet-luckily she tapped down onto the stone pathway and not in the plants themselves. In the instant of stillness, she observed the courtyard- a luxurious koi pond crossed with a bridge and dotted with large rocks under a tree peony, surrounded by moss and light-colored rocks, and a smoothly manicured lawn dotted with tiny shrines.

Aiko was hidden within the shadows of the pagoda roof before a civilian could have seen her. In the space between heartbeats her sensei was beside her, looking feline and dangerous instead of vaguely sleepy as he usually did. Silently she tapped across the tiles, making her way to the window she had noted on the floor plan. She slipped into the second floor guest bedroom easily and leapt onto the ceiling to speed into the target's suite. It was even darker inside, so she took a long moment to let her vision adjust.

The layout wasn't complicated, but she was still thankful she had been able to see a rough floor plan before entering. Her entry point had only been two hallways away from where she almost certainly needed to be. The mission report had described the court lady they were stealing from as someone who would likely keep her jewels close- she didn't trust her staff.

The target, a slim woman of about thirty with long black hair, was sleeping peacefully in the bedroom… and so were the two other women in the bed with her. Aiko felt red heat spread over her ears and neck. She tried to suppress the impression that Kakashi was silently cackling at her. That was rather a lot of flesh showing, even with the blue silk sheets draped over (most of) them. Only a few feet from the heavy breathing of her target, she pawed through drawers, being certain to put everything exactly where it had been and touch as little as possible. She was wearing gloves, but it would be best not to leave her scent if she could help it. Good habits and all that.

_'That's it!_' Aiko wrapped the necklace, bracelet and earring set in the thin towel she'd prepared and tucked it into her pouch. It was actually rather pretty- black stones set in delicate silver filigree. Getting out was just as easy as getting in had been. At one point she stopped entirely on her ceiling perch and held her breath while a petite girl walked by clutching what looked like a pitcher of water.

She didn't speak until they were a good ten miles away, speeding back towards Konoha. The adrenaline rush left her, and Aiko felt weary. That was strange- the active part of the mission had only taken about an hour from start to escape. Maybe it was just nerves?

"That went well," her teacher commented. She was disoriented enough by her first real mission to smile up at him. "Maybe you'll be ready for real missions soon."

"I thought this was a real mission."

He gave her a mildly disbelieving look. "Stealing from sleeping civilians without so much as a hired thug bodyguard?"

Aiko shrugged. "Better than walking dogs."

His lone eye narrowed in a way that indicated he was thinking. She tried not to shiver, and hoped she hadn't given him any more ideas for cruel and unusual training.

* * *

"I can't believe you had a real mission!" Naruto bounced around the kitchen, almost too excited to do what she told him. It took a glare to remind him that he was meant to be dicing vegetables. She quickly finished using the other cutting board to thinly slice the beef, and then set it in a sizzling pan.

"Nah," she demurred, turning to wash her hands thoroughly. "It wasn't so great. How was class today?" Her brother pouted, casting a dirty look at the small pile of books on the couch.

"Ne, it was terrible!" Aiko kept one ear open to her brother's complaints- something about Ino and glue? – while she worked on the rest of dinner. She gently lifted the lid off the rice pot and checked to be sure it had been soaking long enough before she turned the heat on. Aiko frowned slightly. "Wait, I'm confused. Where did Hinata even get live kunai?" The beef was starting to smell fragrant, so she agitated the pan and turned the meat over.

She could practically hear Naruto's shrug in his answer. "I don't know, but it was the best thing ever!" He fell silent for a second. "Hey, Aiko? Do you remember Sakura-chan?"

"Of course," she said easily. "What about her?" Inwardly, she tried not to wince. _'Please don't be that crush already…'_

Of course that was too much to hope for.

"She's really pretty," Naruto said dreamily, propping his chin up on his hands. "Sakura-chan always smells nice and she's so smart at school and have you ever seen pink hair before on anyone else? She's amazing."

Aiko didn't bother to hide her wince. There was no point, Naruto didn't pay attention to cues like that anyway. "No, her hair is unique," was the most diplomatic answer she could choke out. "But Naruto-kun… She isn't very nice, you know."

"She is so," Naruto muttered. Then he brightened up. "Maybe I can impress her with my ninja skills! She's always looking at Sasuke like he' so cool. When I beat him, she'll like me instead!"

Aiko bopped him on the head with a clean wooden spoon. "That's not the way affection works," she scolded. Then a thought occurred. '_I could use this to motivate him…'_

Slyly, the slightly older twin acted as if she'd just remembered something. "Sakura does really well in academics, right? You'd have to do well there to impress her, as well as taijutsu. She's the kind of girl who respects strength and…" Aiko grimaced. '_That isn't true, strictly speaking. Strength is more a by-product of what Haruno finds attractive.'_ "Well, she actually likes people who she thinks are cool. People who are self-assured, good looking, and stuff like that. She isn't going to like anyone who can't keep up with her."

Naruto slumped over the table. "So mean, nee-chan." He cracked one eye open to peer miserably up at her. "It's not my fault I'm not good at school work!"

"Not exactly, no." Aiko gave him a one-handed squeeze. "You have a lot of energy and a short attention span, which makes school work difficult. But you could be working a lot harder than you do. You know perfectly well that skipping class and planning pranks when Iruka is talking is going to hurt your scores, but you do it anyways. If you want to impress Sakura, start there."

"I guess," Naruto said unhappily. He retrieved his history textbook and looked at it as if it was about to bite him. Aiko nudged him gently with a shoulder. "What's the assignment?"

"The class is supposed to read chapter 7," he dully informed.

Aiko frowned at the strange wording. "The class is?"

"Yeah, I haven't finished chapter 2 yet. I don't understand any of it," he whined. Aiko sighed. "Give it here." She flipped it open. "We can read together and talk about it as we go. You remember conversation much better than things you've read."

Naruto's decision to impress Sakura with his intellect didn't exactly work. For one thing, he'd been at the bottom of rankings for long enough that it would be impossible for him to make it to the top of the class. For another, he didn't really have the aptitude for that kind of study anyways. He wasn't as diligent as he'd intended to be when he started studying for real, but with frequent reminders to study (and of why he was studying, however painful Aiko found the idea herself) helped to keep him afloat. The sudden improvement had probably terrified poor Iruka, Aiko realized one day. He would be just waiting for the massive prank that an apparent switch in personality was leading up to. It might have been kinder to put tacks on his chair so he stopped thinking that Naruto was trying to lull him into letting his guard down.

Her brother had actually put a temporary halt to pranks on his sensei, under the rationale that there were people who deserved to be pranked much more and that it would be a waste of his incredible skills to focus on one person. By this time, three months had passed since Aiko became a genin. Kakashi had yet to teach her a single jutsu, she had been on exactly one C-class mission, and he hadn't done much to improve her other base skills either. She found that her routine was much the same as it ever had been. He sure had a strange way of teaching. He'd given her a few pointers on water-walking after she had finished tree climbing, and could be counted on to give her at least one taijutsu spar daily. Unfortunately, it was usually more like a 'beat-down' than a spar, but he gave pointers and she worked on her free time to incorporate his suggestions.

She had been right with her original assessment: being without a team was lonely, and since Kakashi didn't seem to want anything to do with her, he didn't make up for the absence. Aiko continued to do what she knew how to do—she improved her aim, chakra control, ran a lot, attempted to build some muscle mass, and played around with wire and chakra strings. Her improvement since the academy was notable. In a way, Kakashi's laid back teaching style might have been working for her. If she'd just gotten powerful jutsu, she might not have spent as much time improving her base shinobi skillset. Every shinobi needed to be at least competent in those areas beyond genin level- Namikaze Minato had made speed an incredible weapon, legends like Kakashi and Itachi used basic tools like kunai, and ninja like Lee managed to be formidable without a single jutsu.

In other words, she could be a freaking legend even if she never learned another jutsu, but she'd get herself killed in thirty seconds flat into real combat if she couldn't move quickly enough to dodge.

She tried to keep that in mind when a snickering Chuunin handed her a mission scroll detailing her new D-class mission gathering herbs from the forest immediately surrounding Konoha. _'Kakashi-sensei knows what he's doing,_' Aiko gritted through her teeth while she murderously popped the heads off of the purple flowers she was collecting.

* * *

"I have no fucking idea what I'm doing," Hatake Kakashi chuckled to a former ANBU colleague one night after yet another day of lazing around reading while his short pers- student, he definitely meant student- completed easy missions. Really it wasn't so bad. It was like a vacation, only with a midget and no hotel sex. Kakashi frowned at the thought, suddenly unhappy with this 'teaching' gig again. Across the table, Tenzou tried not to look too aghast at the thought of his sempai with a small child. Kakashi-sempai was his hero, really he was! His sempai was incredibly strong, he was the most intelligent man that Tenzou knew, he was an excellent commanding officer, and he always smelled so damn manly. But…

"Training a fresh genin is probably not much like training ANBU," Tenzou ventured as a guess. He didn't exactly have much experience with kids. Like Kakashi, he had been drafted directly into the program at such a young age that he'd never known anything different, and certainly hadn't had peers.

Kakashi shrugged easily, swiping his cute little kohai's last stick of yakitori and jamming it into his mouth so quickly that the kid didn't even notice his mask had come down. "How different can it be? We're all adults here."

Tenzou valiantly resisted the face-palm, but he just didn't have the willpower. By the time he managed to look up, his sempai was gone and a receipt was slowly falling to the table. "What the…" Tentatively, he reached out and snagged it. Then his face turned indignant. _'I don't want to pay for his meal! Besides, who drinks at this hour anyway?!'_

_Chapter Word Total : 3,648_

_Cumulative Word Total : 30,165_


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto idly tapped on his desk (the one directly in front of where Iruka lectured, which would theoretically make it easier for the Chuunin to catch him misbehaving), wishing the period would just finish already. He had clawed his way out of the bottom academic ranking, but he would still much rather be working on his aim. Lately he had been spending almost all of his physical development time on throwing skills, after he'd noted that Mizuki-sensei was a goddamn prick and never pointed out his mistakes. He never seemed especially approving either- he'd give Naruto's poor katas the same nod he gave Sakura's technical perfection. He wasn't addressing either of their issues.

Naruto knew from watching his pretty (incredibly, mind-bogglingly, world-changingly pretty) classmate that her stamina was very poor and that she was lacking in muscle mass (even for the admittedly low standards for ten year old girls). Likewise, he knew that he tended to overreach and start his kata too quickly which ended up forcing him faster and faster. Speed was great, but he wanted to go at a speed he wasn't ready for and that ended up making his steps sloppy.

He probably wouldn't know the difference if Aiko hadn't pointed out his issues in the same casual way she told him it was his turn to take out the garbage. It wasn't good or bad, it was just being brought to his attention so that he could do something about it.

Ino (He took a moment to glare at the back of her head, long blonde hair swaying gently in the breeze from open windows) had been less diplomatic about his level. He was going to fight her one day too. Aiko was spending what seemed like every other morning working out with Ino. He'd been invited, of course, but… he had other things to do. Like find out where Mizuki-sensei lived and smear the juice from a can of tuna fish under the table. (No matter how hard Mizuki-bastard scrubbed, his kitchen was going to gradually get stinkier and stinkier.) Naruto tried not to cackle overmuch in class. That had been yesterday- the Chuunin had probably only recently noticed the smell and was trying to find the source. Comedic gold, if only he could witness the frustration himself. An eraser suddenly appeared in him immediate vision and he jerked to the left to avoid it. '_Eh heh heh… Iruka-sensei looks kinda mad_.'

"Stop cackling, Uzumaki. It's disruptive and just plain weird." With a mid-level stern glare (Naruto had made a mental chart, categorizing the severity of Iruka Glares) the Chuunin that didn't totally suck (Bite me, Mizuki-bastard!) went back to droning on about why you actually shouldn't aim for the jugular in a certain type of situation. It had something to do with bloodspray and tracking by scent?

For the next four minutes, Naruto was a model student. Then he was tired of that. Sasuke, that goddamn prick, was dutifully focused on the lecture. He never took notes, but he was always right when the teachers called on him. They called on him a lot- whenever Naruto or Kiba couldn't answer a question, Iruka would look to Mr. Perfect Hair. Smug bastard. Naruto broke a pencil in his fist, totally oblivious to the way that Shino gave him a mildly alarmed stare and inched away, beetles hiding deeper under his seasonally inappropriate coat.

Naruto shifted guiltily. It sucked to compare his academic performance to others. It was just so hard. '_Maybe if I worked like Aiko, I'd already be graduated._' The thought made him feel bad about himself, so he tried not to think it often. It was hard to not to make the comparison, though. She was his twin and they'd entered the academy the same year- should they be more alike?

It wasn't that Naruto didn't work at his ninja skills- far from it! He worked at it daily. But he just couldn't only be a ninja like Aiko. She didn't have any hobbies or downtime, and her workouts with Ino were probably the closest thing she had to a friendship. If she'd been someone else… well, he might have thought that she was cripplingly weird and too serious. She kinda acted like an old lady, (except for all the cursing, of course.)

That afternoon he rushed home, pinching the torn seam of his favorite black t shirt shut. (He was totally going to beat the shit out of Kiba next time they sparred, believe it!). '_I beat Aiko home_,' he noticed dumbly when he shucked off his shoes. '_That almost never happens_.' Aside from her one overnight mission, his sister was almost always home when he walked in the door. She generally went out to train again after the worst of the heat passed, but only after they had dinner. He felt like being helpful, so he started some tea before he tugged off his shirt and went in search of the little sewing kit Aiko had been forced to buy for her kunoichi class.

Naruto really didn't understand how she could be so incredibly bad at repairing her clothes, especially since she'd had to take a class on it. The things that girl could do with a seam just didn't bear thinking about, so Naruto generally clenched his teeth and did her mending in addition to his own.

"Oy, that tea fresh?"

"Yeah, but you don't get any because you're a cotton-headed ninnymuggins," he called back casually, fighting down the corners of his mouth. He heard his sister snicker from the other room- that one always made her laugh for some reason. Naruto wasn't entirely sure why. She'd taught him lots of bad words to call people and most of them didn't make her laugh at all.

Aiko wandered in from the kitchen (he hadn't even noticed her cross the room, when had she gotten so sneaky?) holding a cup of tea. "You look like doo," he casually commented, keeping one eye on his stitches and one eye on the way her right eye twitched. "I'm not sure what kind. Unimaginative bet is on dog doo, but I'm leaning towards sheep."

"Thanks, little brother. You always know just what to say." She flopped down onto the couch in a way that probably should have spilled hot liquid all over her. He'd been joking, but he hadn't really been lying. She must have come directly from her workout, because her bangs were still plastered to her forehead with sweat and he could see a line of bruises on the backs of her forearms- from blocking blows in a spar with a stronger opponent, probably?

He imagined that if he stared long enough, he would be able to watch him fade. Both of the twins healed quickly, but he never seemed to see it happen. It was almost as if bruises waited for him to lose interest before they scuttled off.

"What are you thinking about?" Her uncanny blue-green eyes were directed at him. Naruto loved his sister's eyes. They looked like what he imagined the ocean was.

"Crabs," Naruto said firmly. "Would you describe the way they move as a scuttle?" He waved his hands to demonstrate, light glinting off the needle in his fist.

"I've never met a crab," she said dryly. "When I do, I'll tell you all about it." Aiko kicked her feet up to rest on the arms of the couch, stretching one arm out precariously to set her tea cup down with a clink onto the side table. "Brother mine, love of my life, most clever and ki-"

"You're so full of shit it's coming out your ears," Naruto interrupted blandly, too focused on his mending to muster up an emotional response. "What is it you want mended?"

"I'll go get them." Aiko easily rolled off the couch and landed on just one foot, sliding into a walk without a moment's awkwardness. Naruto silently cursed his sister's coordination while she padded away to rustle around in the bedroom (they shared) and came back with what appeared to be a pair of her leggings. She tossed it at him, and he barely pulled them out of the air before they landed on his hair. "Please and thank you. "

"What's for dinner?" he called. He could practically sense his sister roll her eyes from the kitchen. She was clearly getting things ready- the icebox opened and closed, as did drawers and he could hear rustles. Then there was a knock on the door. Naruto blinked and then his sister was crouched beside him, frowning slightly.

"You expecting anyone?" she asked in an undertone. He shook his head, setting the needle aside and sliding a kunai out of his holster. Aiko gave him an approving quirk of the lips, moving to the door so quickly that she was just a blur of color. The tenseness in her shoulders fled as soon as she cracked the door and breathed deeply. "Um, hello sensei. Would you like to come in and have some tea?"

A tall man stepped through the door. '_He's weird looking,_' Naruto marveled, putting his kunai away and picking his mending back up again. This was his first glimpse of Aiko's sensei. He was slouched over like Shikamaru, dressed like a Jounin, and had hair like he'd stuck a finger in a light socket. When the tall guy turned to pass one eye lazily over Naruto, the boy stiffened. The dark blue mask over his jaw moved slightly, but Naruto couldn't tell what expression was being made. "Maaa, Aiko," the old guy rumbled. "No tea, thank you. I came to tell you to get ready. We have a last minute mission."

"Duration?" Aiko asked briskly, draining her tea cup and starting towards the bedroom.

The old guy 'hmmmed'. "Oh, hard to say. We're tracking a Chuunin level missing nin. Should be an easy introduction into the craft. I'd pack light. We're going to be doing a lot of running."

"Is this why you've been pushing my speed so much?" Aiko called from the bedroom, sounding calm despite the sounds of frantic packing.

"Exactly." One dark eye drifted over to examine Naruto as if it could x-ray down to the thoughts in his head. Naruto scowled, crossing his arms and giving the intruder a stink-eye. _'Who does he think he is, budging in here and dragging Aiko away when she just got home?'_.

His sister bounded back into the room, wearing twice the weapons she had been before and toting a navy blue knapsack. She nearly barreled Naruto over when she gave him a hug, grinning fiercely and poking his nose. "Eat your junk food tonight, but be sure to cook real food tomorrow, okay? Be good, stay safe, and don't prank Mizuki 'til I get back."

Naruto harrumphed, dutifully leaning back into the hug with his chin resting on her shoulder (and ugh, he was going to be taller than her one day soon, believe it!) and rolling his eyes. "Yes, mother," he drawled, pleased by the attention but too grown-up to tolerate it in front of a stranger. The old guy seemed to flinch, his one visible eye flickering to Aiko's bizarrely colorful hair. Naruto startled and gave the old guy a distrustful stare. He didn't like leaving his sister with a stranger, especially not one this weird.

Unfortunately, no one asked his very excellent opinion and the two ninja sped out of the apartment building, leaving him alone and bored.

* * *

Even with all the stamina and speed training she had done since graduation, Aiko had to grit her teeth to cope with the pain in her feet and weakness in her legs after a few hours of running without stop. Kakashi-sensei had been very certain that she had a lot of potential for speed, and it was one of the few things he actually trained her in. He'd been right, but the pace they needed to keep in order to gain ground on a ninja of a higher rank like a Chuunin was wearing on her quickly. Her hip, knee, and ankle joints were all screaming with pain by the time he allowed her to have a break, crouching to speak quietly with the brown, scruffy looking dog he'd summoned. In a moment, he dismissed the dog they'd been following and whipped through hand seals and summoned- is that a pug?

Aiko ignored the ninken that she was pretty sure would answer to 'Pakkun' and drained half a bottle of water, then gulping down a quick dissolve pill that should restore some of the salt she'd lost through sweat and reduce the amino acid burn from the run. She flopped to the forest floor and bent into a straight-legged stretch, trying to calm her heartrate and breathing through sheer force of will.

"Who is this?"

Aiko looked up at the surprisingly deep voice, somehow not surprised to see that the pug had invaded her personal space. When her teacher didn't speak up, she managed to catch her breath enough to briefly introduce herself. "Uzumaki Aiko, happy to meet you."

"Pakkun," the pug said simply. He snuffled at her side, causing her to yelp when she felt his cold nose through her thin shirt. "So this is-"

"My student," Kakashi interrupted smoothly. The dog gave him a _look_ that indicated the two would be having a talk later, but let it slide. He pointedly nudged her tummy with his square head, and Aiko reflexively scratched behind his ears and stroked down his back. His fur was so sort- it was more like petting a bunny than a comparatively coarse dog. The girl couldn't help but smile. It was the first time she'd really met a dog in this lifetime, but the doggy scent he gave off was comforting and very familiar. Maybe she'd been a dog person in her past life.

'_Did Pakkun know Kushina and Minato well enough to notice a connection with my scent?_' Aiko pursed her lips. It looked that way, which would also explain her teacher's uncharacteristic interruption. He was often rude, yes, but generally through inaction like his failure to introduce the two parties than by actively doing something rude.

"Pakkun, we're on the clock," Kakashi drawled. "Make friends later."

"No respect," the small dog grumbled, reluctantly leaning out of her reach and sniffing around the area. "Yeah, I have the scent. We're damn close. Your prey is weak and slowing down, so we should be able to catch up within the hour at most. Why are you taking your pup on a hunt, boy?"

Aiko almost choked, eyes wider than what she could pretend was dignified. '_I don't think Pakkun talked to Kakashi like that in the manga,'_ she thought weakly. The idea of her strict teacher being referred to as 'boy'…. It didn't bear thinking about. Said teacher looked more amused than anything.

"Maa, Pakkun, I'm starting to think you don't trust my judgment. I wouldn't have brought the pup if I couldn't keep her safe. This should be an easy introduction to real missions, even if she is still out of shape despite months of my best work," he casually insulted. Aiko felt that eye twitch start up again. She willed the muscle spasm to stop. "Alright, break is over. Let's go." With a sigh, Aiko gave one last stretch and climbed to her feet. As the small group started running again, her teacher let the pug take point and slowed down to run beside her. "You know," he said quietly, "You're going to see your first kill. We don't bring missing nin back alive, but we can't allow them to go and make Konoha look weak either."

Momentarily stunned, Aiko struggled to find her footing on the next landing. Her teacher didn't comment, but she didn't fool herself into thinking he hadn't noticed. "I see," she managed. "I… I suppose that makes sense." It did make a terrible kind of sense. Kakashi was famous as both a ninjutsu specialist and a tracker, and he had spent roughly a decade in ANBU. Of course he got a lot of hunting missions.

"You're a good kid," he said quietly. "I just want you to remember why we're doing this. You got stuck with me for a teacher, so you unfortunately are going to pick up my specialties, like retrieval. This is just a run to gain experience for you. You're going to hang back, and if I assess that the situation is going poorly you will obey my orders immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," she automatically replied.

His attention slid up front and he leapt ahead at the exact moment Pakkun gave a rough bark. A moment later (it might have been a quarter of a second or up to three whole seconds later, Aiko's brain seemed to have decided it wanted to process time in new and interesting ways) a lithe figure exploded from the tree tops, aiming a hard kick at Pakkun –the throat, it would have him choking in his own blood and knock him off the branch he was perched on, the fall was too far, he couldn't land safely. Her muscles moved without her knowledge to position her so that she could catch him if he fell. The dog couldn't possibly dodge it in time, but her sensei was suddenly there deflecting the blow and forcing her backwards with straight taijutsu.

Aiko felt like her eyes were about to pop out of her head, but she couldn't stop staring. She'd improved her speed by almost a hundred percent since she graduated, but what the fighters were doing was downright insane. She could barely keep track of them as flashes of dark and light and rustles of clothing flickering in the branches of the enormous Konoha trees. It was damn hard to tell, but the Chuunin they'd been sent to retrieve (at least, that was probably the opponent, especially as she'd immediately aimed for the ninken tracking her) appeared to be a dark-haired woman of extraordinarily short stature_. 'For some reason, I pictured a nondescript man in uniform.' _Aiko tried not to wince. She hadn't really thought of the missing nin as a breathing human being- just a target, a filler character. '_He's going to kill this person_,' she dully realized. A real person. She felt her breathing speed up, but couldn't control it. She leapt backwards, keeping both combatants in her vision but painfully aware that she was outclassed and had been told to stay out of the way.

She hadn't realized just how enormous the gulf between a genin and a Chuunin was. It had always seemed so easy and natural- that if she just kept working she would get there one day as a brief stop on the road to being a Jounin who could protect Naruto and herself. But this was insane.

Aiko knew damn well that her sensei was a monster among shinobi- one of the absolute best. But this woman seemed to be keeping up with him surprisingly well, despite the obvious signs that she was drained and desperate. '_She must be a taijutsu specialist_,' the ten-year old hypothesized. And wasn't that counterintuitive- to see such a tiny woman holding her own in a physical fight against a tall man.

The whole encounter lasted perhaps twenty seconds and boasted at least three times as many blows, from her desperate charge to the instant when Kakashi slid under the woman's guard and dispassionately snapped her neck. '_A bloodless kill_,' Aiko numbly registered. _'So that he doesn't bother Pakkun's nose. He must think we still need to do some tracking.'_ She only noticed she was shaking when her sensei shot her an inscrutable look.

"Pakkun, check ahead. If she set up traps, I want to disable them before we go. Aiko-chan, come here." She steeled herself, then leapt to her teacher's side with two agile jumps, remaining in a slight crouch over the lump of flesh that was a living breathing human being until very recently. "Do you know how we dispose of bodies?" he asked tonelessly.

'_Sealing scrolls?'_ Aiko twitched, feeling her stomach roil. _'No, don't be stupid. That's an expensive resource, it wouldn't be used for a low-level nin like this. That would only be necessary to collect on a bounty.' She_ took a steadying breath. "We burn it?"

"Correct. Watch my hands." He steadily worked his way through six hand signs, then breathed in deeply through his nose and pushed one hand out, encased in a flickering orange flame that leapt to cover the body. In an instant, every inch of flesh was shimmering through orange fire- then it blackened, then there was a horrible stench and the corpse crumbled in on itself and burst into greasy ash. Aiko coughed, waving one hand in front of her face to try to keep from breathing the material in. Her sensei dispassionately flipped through three hand signs and blew out a harsh blast of air that scattered the remains through the tree tops.

'_The metal didn't burn_," Aiko observed. It had been distorted in the sudden heat, but she could still pick out buckles from boots, a thin sludge of what must have been hidden senbon, and two kunai from a thigh holster.

"That was strangely anticlimactic. She was here and now she's dust." Aiko stared blankly at the ash on the wind. A warm hand landed on her head, fingers gently rustling into her hair.

"Being a ninja isn't usually glamorous or climactic," he rumbled. "Most of it is quick, dirty and altogether unpleasant. The types of battles that kids play at in Academy- only the real elites fight that way. It's more of a vanity thing than practical."

"A dick measuring contest," she said without thinking. She actually felt her teacher stiffen. '_Ah, oops, probably not an age-appropriate metaphor,' _she realized too late.

"Ah, I suppose," he said, sounding spectacularly uncomfortable. He gave a deep sigh. "Pakkun, report."

"All clear," the dog barked.

"Thank you," he said absentmindedly. The dog had just enough time to nod before he was dismissed. "All right," he sighed, pushing one hand through his hair. It got stuck and he had to tug it out. Aiko forced down an inappropriate smile. "Now we go home and report. Do you want to take a break here? You did well keeping up. I wanted to catch her before she got to the first town, where she might have caused more trouble and complicated the mission."

Aiko consciously didn't look at the branch they were standing on. "No, I'm good." She gave her teacher a weak smile, noting how weary and old he looked. She suddenly wanted to perk him up- he shouldn't look like that. He was only in his twenties. "Come on, old man" she teased, nudging his ribs with her shoulder. "I get it already, you're a total badass. Are you going to make me that fast?"

Her teacher snorted, shoulders relaxing imperceptibly before he took off in a blur of movement. She gave a cry of indignation and hurried to catch up. "You're years away from that," he taunted. "You can barely run in a straight line. I think you should master that before Jounin level taijutsu, eh?"

"I'd be happy if you'd teach me anything instead of beating on me all day," she faux-accused. She really was learning- it just wasn't the kind of thing she could show off. Becoming a faster runner and putting on muscle mass wasn't nearly as cool to demonstrate as crazy taijutsu or elemental jutsu.

She regretted the taunt when her teacher gave a low chuckle. "Well, if my cute little student needs to be taught, I suppose I can dream something up."

* * *

The next day, she reported for her promised training and was pleasantly surprised to get her primary element tested.

"Water?" Kakashi's mask moved as if he was biting at his lip (that really didn't hide everything, why had Team 7 been so irritated by it in the anime? It was just a thin piece of fabric). "Well, I'm no expert at that one but I suppose I can get you started. That's my least favorite element," he cheerfully announced.

"Gee, thanks," she grumbled, dropping the soggy paper to the ground. This was her least favorite part of the training ground- she hadn't come here since her accidental cat murder. She very carefully did not look at the scorched earth to her right. '_No one knows. No one will ever know_.' She suppressed a twitch. It was like that Poe story with the beating heart. She just couldn't stop thinking about that goddamn cat. And it seemed like there was no way that Kakashi hadn't noticed her discomfort. '_Is that why we're at this specific part of the training ground? Is it just a coincidence? Is he trying to coerce me into confessing?'_

"Don't worry, once you've mastered all the water jutsu in the world we can start you on a good element." Aiko drooped. _'Somehow that's not reassuring_.' Her teacher coughed lightly. "Pay attention, Aiko-chan."

The technique he'd showed her was bizarre, ill-suited to Konoha's climate, and incredibly familiar.

"You want me to practice turning into a puddle of water," she said blankly, kicking at her sensei. He materialized from the puddle of –well, himself she supposed, and wasn't that ewwww- and grabbed her ankle, giving her a stern look. "I was envisioning something with some sort of combat potential. Or any kind of potential, really. I suppose that'll be useful if I ever get a mission to investigate the soles of rainboots."

"Don't be a smart ass, it doesn't suit you. Did you catch the hand seals?" Obligingly, he ran slowly through them one more time while she copied. "Good. This element transformation should come comparatively easily to you. More importantly, once you have this down, you'll be able to apply the same skill to summon a mist to hide in, make a water clone, and do a couple other nifty tricks, like causing rain in a small area."

Aiko blinked. "Oh," she said dumbly. "That actually does sound useful."

"It's almost like I'm your teacher or something," Kakashi drawled sarcastically. "The hard part is going to be chakra saturation- in order for this to work, you actually need both respectable reserves and the ability to manipulate almost all of it at once. You won't actually lose most of it in the jutsu, but it needs to be transformed from the neutral state to water type."

Aiko found herself alone on the training ground long after her sensei had slunk away for the night, incredibly frustrated. "Why can't I make this fucking jutsu work?" she outright hissed, flinging her hands up and desperately wishing for something or someone that she could hit.

Too stubborn to give up, she abandoned her normal workout routine for the night in order to concentrate on getting down the one jutsu her sensei had trusted her to learn. She thought that she had the first part down, at least. After hours of trial and error, she could now transform the neutral chakra at her stomach, head, and other main gates into water natured chakra easily and quickly. Seeing as how that didn't do anything, however, it clearly became obvious that it wasn't enough. After that it was a rush to either flood her chakra coils with the new water natured chakra or concentrate on changing the lingering remnants of chakra in her coils in the same way she'd changed the stored chakra. Unfortunately, the first method seemed to require an exact speed of release that she hadn't mastered, and the second method seemed to require more concentration than she could boast of. If she focused on the floating chakra, her reserves faltered back into their neutral state.

_'I'm going to figure this out if it kills me_,' she vowed. She'd never failed at a jutsu before, and she wasn't about to start now.

* * *

Kakashi slouched a little further, silver hair tickling the back of his neck. He really needed to do something about it. Eventually. "I admit I had doubts about taking a fresh genin out hunting, but she performed well in the field. She displayed a relatively healthy reaction to seeing a kill under controlled combat conditions. It doesn't seem far-fetched that she could be trained as part of a hunter unit. My initial reservations about whether or not that'd be a waste of a potential front-line type still stand, however. She'll probably excel in either specialty."

The Sandaime Hokage smiled, giving the reporting Jounin his full attention for a split second while he was switching out stamps. "Excellent, Kakashi-kun. I am glad to hear it. I've always heard good things about Aiko while she was in the Academy, but of course that doesn't always translate to field performance."

"Actually, she's weirder in the village," Kakashi mumbled, trying not to think too much about why his student got so damn twitchy every time they went to training ground 7. It was probably safer not to know. He lowered his book to address the Hokage directly, but still held Icha Icha up high enough to obscure most of his face. "But her work ethic is satisfactory. I have been concentrating on her speed and endurance. I would say she's actually on par with experienced Genin in those two areas. She's a rank beginner in taijutsu, of course, and her weapons aren't much better. Now that I'm momentarily satisfied that she can be trusted to make it to a mission, I'm teaching her some mostly evasive jutsu so that she doesn't get skewered by someone out of her league. That would be everyone, of course."

"And to think you claimed you didn't want to train genin for so long," Sarutobi pointed out, not bothering to hide his smile.

Kakashi gave him an uncharacteristically sharp look. "I don't," he said shortly. "But Minato's kids deserve to be taught right. Aiko has her mother's chakra type, which probably makes her our only water type in that generation. I was never good at Kushina's whirlpool style jutsu, but I can teach it to her well enough. She deserves that legacy." He turned his face away from the Hokage's partially sympathetic and partially frustrated expression.

"She isn't her parents," Sarutobi said, a little harshly. He narrowed his eyes, gave the Jounin his full attention and even focused a little bit of intent in his direction. "You understand that?"

"Yes, of course." Kakashi's head twitched into something an optimist might term an incline. "Is that all, Hokage-sama?"

* * *

Chapter Word Total: 5,124

Cumulative Word Total: 35,289


	7. Chapter 7

Last Time: Learning first technique since graduation

* * *

It took another two weeks of work to perfect the technique. Aiko obsessively worked to improve her speed in both initiating and ending the jutsu, and hiding her chakra signature while in it. Her recitation of hand seals was flawless and speedy, and the surface she covered could both be expanded and reduced. In the end, she had to conclude…

"I'm the best water puddle in the whole goddamn village, Kakashi-sensei." Granted, it hadn't rained in Konoha for weeks, so there was little competition on that front. Still…

"I think that I'll be the judge of that."

He wasn't going to take her word for it. She hadn't really expected him to anyways. Pre-emptively, she began transforming the majority of the chakra in her stomach gate.

At his nod, Aiko whipped through the hand seals and sank into the ground. It was a bizarre sensation. Her field of vision sort of extended and flattened so that she could see everything directly above the water surface, but not to the sides or high up. When her jackass of a sensei started dropping twigs and leaves on the surface, she materialized as quickly as she could and flipped backwards.

"Hmm, not too shabby. How are your chakra reserves?" He had re-opened his book at some point, but she knew he was still watching.

Aiko closed her eyes for an instant to check. "They're fine, sensei. Once I managed to figure it out, this technique doesn't really do much to my reserves. Tree walking is much more chakra intensive."

He looked unimpressed. "Have you mastered water walking?" At her cringe, he gave an ominous chuckle. "Well then, you'd better get started on that before I teach you anything else. It would be pretty embarrassing for a water type to not be able to fight on the water. It's your biggest advantage, so you need to get to a point where you don't even think about maintaining it anymore. For all that it doesn't impress in the same way that lightning, wind, or fire do, water is probably the best elemental nature to have in order to control the field. As you are currently a sad little slug of a genin, you need every advantage you can get. I expect to see significant progress on water walking tomorrow. Meet at the usual time."

"So, like ten thirty?" she said dryly.

Her teacher pretended not to hear. "Seven am sharp! Have a good night."

"It's barely noon!" she shouted to the empty space where he had recently been. It didn't really matter anyways, since she started her days at 6 am. She spent forty minutes doing straight taijutsu sparring with Ino before the other girl pranced off to the Academy, then came to training ground seven to do work on either her stamina, aim, or jutsu until her teacher showed up to check her progress with a spar or demonstration. Aiko scowled. '_He's not the most attentive of teachers. He didn't even demonstrate water walking._' No wonder the original team seven had done so poorly under him. It took a certain kind of person to thrive with so little attention, and that type of person wasn't a pre-teen.

It wasn't that Kakashi neglected her training, exactly. The more progress and signs of improvement she had to demonstrate, the longer he spent with her. It made sense, in a way. Why would he waste his time on someone who wasn't dedicated to improving?

_'Poor Naruto. That's not your learning style at all.'_

She pushed thoughts of her brother and his messed-up future team out of her mind, glaring at her opponent for the day. The stream was barely two feet deep and twice as wide, so at least she wouldn't be getting completely soaked when she inevitably fell in. Delicately, one small sandaled foot settled on top of the water, surrounded by a fan of chakra to maintain surface tension. That went alright. Her control failed altogether as soon as she picked up her other foot.

So she tried again.

And again.

After about twenty complete failures, Aiko stopped and sat on the bank, trying to figure out what was going wrong. Was surface tension not the answer? Was it really just an adhesive effect like what she did when tree walking that she needed, or should she try to stabilize herself with chakra that went down into the water instead of across the surface?

"This would be easier if the water would stop moving," she grumbled to herself.

Then she literally face palmed. Through her palm, she mumbled "I'm an idiot. Of course it'd be easier to figure this out on calmer water first, and then try moving water."

Konoha (being conveniently located in the center of hellishly hot Fire Country) was rather short on lakes, so she ended up making a trip to the onsen. Luckily most people were still at work, and the water was mostly empty. Her progress was much faster here- with still water and barefooted, she figured out that (despite how counterintuitive it seemed to her) all she needed was the adhesive effect. After an hour of work, she had the basic skill down (though a bit wobbly) and had completely drained her chakra.

'_I deserve a break._' Aiko sighed contentedly as she completely immersed into the water for the first time… then groaned when she realized that the twigs and leaves that Kakashi had dropped into the Aiko-puddle had apparently nestled in her hair all day. They floated away as she re-surfaced and gave them a disgusted look. The only other person currently in the pool, an unfairly voluptuous older girl with a bottle of apple juice and a book gave an unladylike snort of amusement and spoke for the first time.

"I wondered when you would notice that, kid." The older girl almost had to be a kunoichi. She had a rockin' body, lithe musculature, and thin scars on her hands and arms.

Aiko rolled her eyes in reply. "It's not like it matters." She grabbed the soggy leaves and tossed them over the side of the fence, where they landed with a barely audible plop in the communal pool. The older girl snickered.

"I guess that solved the problem. You're awful young to be trying to water walk, kitten. You really shouldn't play at being a ninja." The woman stretched languorously and ripples gently wavered across the surface of the water.

"And you're awful young to be reading that filthy porn, but I wasn't going to say anything, nee-chan. Isn't that the one with the yaoi threesome?" Aiko drawled in imitation of the other girl's speech. She'd seen Kakashi with the same book not long ago.

Surprised, her companion blinked twice before breaking out into laughter. "Not the answer I expected. I'm Anko, kid. You?"

"Aiko." She examined the older girl in a new light. "How's the book? I asked my sensei once, and he turned bright red and shunshined away". She ran a hand through her short hair, shaking out some of the water. "Didn't see him for two days".

Anko laughed, a surprisingly musical sound. "Nice. It's okay. Full of all sorts of touchy feely crap, so I skip ahead to the good stuff. Politics and sex," she said, sounding more than a little bit satisfied. "The one before was better. The protagonist is a demolitions expert, and also a total hunk. This one is all sneaky infiltration shit- the premise is that the guy has been hired to find out who put a hit out on the princess." She leaned back against the side before glancing around shiftily. "If your prudish teacher asked, I told you that it was shameful and you should never read them."

"I don't think Kakashi-sensei is a prude," Aiko challenged. "I just think he's socially and emotionally handicapped. He really only needs like ten more years of socialization before he learns to stop being so fucking weird all the time." Anko snorted.

"Oy, that bastard's teaching?" She eyed Aiko analytically for the first time. "Hokage-sama must be really desperate for nin if he's promoting babies like you."

Aiko shrugged, not particularly invested in Anko's opinion. "Whatever you say, bitch. I'm okay for a baby genin. I would have stayed in the Academy longer if I could, but they pretty much shoved me out into Kakashi sensei's loving care."

"Sorry to hear that, kitten." Anko took a swig of her apple juice. She caught Aiko eyeing it and gave a sly grin. "I don't share."

"I wasn't asking," Aiko retorted calmly, smiling involuntarily. Anko was a snarky bitch, and she liked that. "What are you up to? Relaxing after a mission or something?"

"Hiding from my boss." The older girl winked. "Ibiki will never look for me here. I swear, he's been trying to drag my ass in to do paperwork on my last five days off. Not today, though. I am going to fill my face with candy, read really nasty porn, and just generally be completely useless all day."

There was a moment of silence. "I'm pretty sure you're my hero." Anko choked, coughing on her juice, losing her cool for the first time.

After she got her breath under control, the older girl pointed at her, not seeming to care that the gesture was rude. "You didn't see that."

* * *

"I made a new friend yesterday," Aiko said conversationally. Naruto looked up, not paying attention to his target. His next shuriken was shamefully far from where it should have been. He didn't even notice.

"That's good, I guess."

"Mmhm. She knows tons of really awful curse words and she's going to teach me some of them." Her voice was as bland as if she was discussing the weather. "I mean it, they're really filthy, amazing things I've never considered." She landed a trio of senbon in quick succession, adding to the picture of a smiley face she was constructing. Naruto gave her picture a glance and made a face, scowling at his own unpierced target and the shuriken anywhere from two inches to a foot away from it. ""Mind your wrist. You're flicking it like you would for a kunai and throwing the star off balance."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto sighed, stiffening his wrist obediently. "I don't see why I have to learn a second projectile. The Academy only requires one for graduation."

"Their requirements are lame. You're going to be better than your classmates." She made a nearly-perfect circle for the left eye and made a face at the one needle that hit slightly off target. The other eye was better.

Her little brother sighed, slouching over despondently. "You're so mean to me, Aiko-chan."

"Sounds about right," she mumbled distractedly, considering making a vertical line through the wonky eye and pretending it was her teacher's Sharingan. For all she knew it was lumpy. She'd never seen it in person. Instead of thinking too hard about it, she made the line. Her brother's eye caught the movement.

"That's an ugly face." Aiko rolled her eyes and nudged her brother with a shoulder to force him out of her personal space, completing it with three little dots in the wonky eye.

"Whatever, you big bully. Let's go home. It's getting too dark for target practice." She pulled her needles out of the target, bunched them and wrapped a thin ribbon around the cluster before sliding the whole thing back into her thigh holster. At her side, Naruto gathered his shuriken, giving them dirty looks all the while. "Hey, how is the campaign against Mizuki-bastard going?"

Naruto perked up at the mention his long-term vendetta. "Hey, hey, you wanna help as a favor or an early birthday present? He found the squid a few days ago, so it's just about time for his counter move. I predict that, much like the last four hundred times, he will retaliate by putting me in detention and grading my Monday test down."

If she were a different person, Aiko might have tried to curtail her brother's mischievous nature. His pranks were immature and made people dislike him. But they were just so… so _Naruto_. The only thing she tried to do was aim him in more appropriate directions (Poor Iruka was a nice guy who deserved a break occasionally). Mizuki, on the other hand, was a gigantic prick. Even if he hadn't been a traitor (she wasn't going to assume he was, what she knew might not be totally accurate) he still had no place around children. It wasn't just Naruto's education that he was damaging. Thusly, he had the privilege of suffering the lion share of Naruto's attention.

"Ah, that's a tricky one. May I suggest something subtle and refined? Do you know what kind of sandals he wears? We'll need to know the size."

"Uh, yeah." Naruto tugged at the collar of his orange shirt (apparently, some things were unavoidable. At least it wasn't a jump suit). "Three pairs, I think. Two are the standard blues, one is black with a wider band. All size 10 from the standard outfitters, minor wear and tear. He takes good care of his stuff." He paused for a moment to cackle, fingers held up into hooked claws.

"Alright. We're going to go buy three 9 ½ pairs of shoes and rough 'em up. I'll make the switch while he's sleeping". She was much better than she'd like to be at creeping on sleeping ninja. "We'll have to have something a little more obvious, so that he thinks he knows how you retaliated. Standard paint job?"

"His house, I think. It's relatively isolated, one story 400 square foot. I think I can paint one side nicely in an hour, but a slap job in probably less than fifty minutes. I hate to do bad work, though." He scrunched up his nose.

Aiko huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, I would never ask you to undermine your artistic integrity like that. What kind of sister do you think I am?" He elbowed her.

"Love you, nee-chan."

"Love you too, nii-chan."

* * *

"Sennnnnseeeiiii. Sensei. Seeeeennnnnnseeeeeeei."

"What do you want, foul demon?" Kakashi muttered from behind his book, being careful to keep the pages out of her view. He wasn't going to be responsible for giving a ten year old access to adult materials. He'd teach her to kill, steal, and commit tax fraud, sure. Those were time-honored ninja traditions. But he firmly believed that access to adult materials should be restricted until a ninja was mature enough to realize they could abuse henge to buy it on their own.

He was a little surprised that she hadn't figured that out yet.

"This was my forty-second D rank mission, sensei. I was hoping that since you are so very fond of me, you would consider taking me on a C rank, if you think I can handle one." She leaned in obnoxiously close. "You know, since it's my birthday and all."

Kakashi gave her a wilted look. "Ninja don't have birthdays," he said shortly before turning back to his book. Jiraiya-sama really did write such marvelous love scenes. His heart stopped everytime he got to the part where the clever bodyguard first realized the servant girl he'd fallen for was the princess in disguise under the cherry trees…

His student gave an obnoxious sigh. "Sure they do, you must have had like sixty of them. Surely you remember at least one. If not, maybe I should return you to the Hokage for a newer model Jounin. I'm way too adorable to get stuck with a defective one."

"Ten laps around the village. Go." The cheeky brat actually stuck her tongue out at him before she cheerfully took off. She knew damn well it wasn't really a punishment- she normally ran eight after he 'left'.

As far as genin went… Well, he'd gotten a pretty good one. Then he snorted. '_Of course she's a good nin, with a pedigree like that_.' He semi-frequently checked on her training when she thought she was alone, if he wasn't running one of his real missions out of the village. The fact that he couldn't really be taken entirely off the roster was probably slowing her progress, but it couldn't be helped. Her work ethic was fairly impressive and hilarious, as was whatever the hell she was doing to that poor Chuunin Academy teacher. Was it possible to bully a superior, or was 'psychological warfare as a hobby' a more accurate description?

Regardless.

_'Would it really be so terrible to take her on a real mission?'_

He'd been delaying that for a while. If he'd had a team, they would have been out in the field for quite a while. But taking an apprentice out was different. She wouldn't have any support if he got caught up with an opponent far beyond her level.

She'd been a genin for over half a year, however. Aiko certainly wasn't Academy fresh, and she couldn't do D-ranks for her whole career… no matter how safe that would make her. Minato probably wouldn't have wanted a safe little princess for a daughter. Not when she'd trained as a ninja.

Kakashi sighed, putting away his book. While his loyal little minion (and she really was loyal, wasn't she? This was the first time she'd complained about all that busy work…) was busy running, he ran across town on the rooftop highway and straight in through the window of Hokage Tower. Sarutobi looked up from his enormous stacks of paperwork, mildly surprised and not entirely concealing the ink drying on the side of his face from where he'd used something wet as a pillow.

"Kakashi-kun? What's this visit about?"

He hmmed, feeling a little sheepish for running over on impulse outside of office hours. It was lucky that the Sandaime liked him. "Well, you see, I thought we had a meeting yesterday, so I rushed here right away. I got trapped in my apartment when I lost my keys. They were in the fridge."

"Naturally," the Sandaime said dryly. "I don't believe we had one planned, but since you're here, why don't we talk."

"I was considering taking my genin out of the village on a C-rank," he explained, rubbing his head a little sheepishly. "But I was hoping we could find a nice, safe one. Possibly one ten or less miles out of the village with a secret ANBU escort. I could settle for any Jounin whose name doesn't rhyme with 'Saito Sai,' though. She's awfully impressionable. She's started repeating things I've only heard from Anko before."

The Sandaime covered his face with both hands, amused. "Now, keep in mind that I haven't checked, but I think we're fresh out of those missions. How about a nice, easy escort mission? Standard bandit prevention type work. You know, you've already taken her out once on a more dangerous mission."

"Yes, but I had less time to think about that, and we were certain there was only one opponent." He considered the Hokage's suggestion of an escort mission. Those were pretty long missions- civilians travel slowly. "Sounds risky," he said, more to himself than the Hokage before raising his voice just a little. "You know, I think this was a mistake. She's starting to get really good at finding discarded weaponry on the academy training grounds and the Councilman's kids really like her. Maybe I should let her do that for just a while longer." Yeah. That sounded like a pretty good plan. Escort missions could go wrong, very wrong. The client could be lying, the client could be a drug dealer with a hit out on them and powerful enemies, they could run into missing nin out to collect on his enormous bounty, or someone might see his adorable little genin and want to kidnap her and-

"Kakashi-kun, you're hyperventilating." The old man sighed. "I know it's hard to take a long mission with a fresh genin, knowing that her life is in your hands. But you can't keep her in the village forever. First of all, I think that Kushina might well rise up from the dead to beat you senseless for underestimating her baby."

She probably would.

"It's not that I don't have faith in her," he protested weakly. "It's more that…"

"You don't have faith in yourself as a leader. Kakashi-kun, you haven't lost a subordinate on a mission since… well, only once in your career." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'll have a mission picked out tomorrow. Now go home. I'm going to," he mumbled the last bit to himself.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," he said, not entirely sure if he'd just won or lost.

* * *

"You know, when I pictured my ninja escort, I imagined someone a little taller."

"That's okay," Aiko said blandly. "I'm just flattered you spend so much time thinking about me when I'm not around."

"Wait, what?" The civilian boy blinked, but Aiko was already on the opposite end of the group, waiting for orders from her teacher.

They had gotten assigned to a small group of merchants headed to Suna. There was big business to be had transporting grains, sugars, and plant clippings to the desert after they were harvested. Seeing as they were mostly transporting comestibles, it was unlikely that the caravan would be specifically targeted by bandits, but that didn't protect them from standard roadside dangers.

Three different businesses were sending merchandise on this trip. Two of them were family affairs, staffed with younger sons and daughters learning the trade under an aunt's supervision, but the third was sending only a grim-faced hired hand.

A C-ranked mission would normally be staffed with either a three-man Chuunin team, four veteran genin, or a Jounin with three fresh genin. Despite the fact that her sensei was an elite for whom this mission was a total joke, Aiko was still a little nervous that they were technically understaffed. She certainly wasn't the equivalent of three genin.

Despite those misgivings, she knew better than to let the clients sense her nerves. Panicked civilians helped nothing.

Her sensei didn't seem worried at all. _'I wish I could be as calm as he is. Sensei is actually really cool.'_ Aiko snuck a glance at him. He wasn't reading for once. Maybe he couldn't in front of paying clients?

"I want you to take point. I'm going to be at the rear. Pay attention. There's little risk, but it'll be you who spots any potential ambushes."

Aiko swallowed. "Hai, sensei." She walked to the front normally- she'd gotten a brief lecture about frightening civilians with unnecessary displays of ninja skills two days ago when she got the notice for this mission.

It had been lucky that she'd had so much time to get ready. She worried at her lower lip with her teeth. '_Poor Naruto. He's never been alone this long before…_' The rush to get packed and make sure she had all the appropriate gear had kept her busy pretty much the whole time when she wasn't going over procedures. Having never been out of the village for any period of time, she needed all new standard gear for extended travel in addition to special additions for the desert climate she would be suffering through.

For now she was in her normal clothes, but she had an identical (though long-sleeved) set in a pretty shade of yellow that wouldn't be quite so hot as her normal black to change into, as well as a long white scarf for her face and hair. Her sensei still seemed to be a bit baffled by her civilian-esque leggings and tunic, but he didn't tell her that she had to get standard gear.

Kakashi-sensei had even been kind enough to point out just how useful her water natured chakra would be in the desert. It was much easier for her to augment existing water supplies, but it was possible for her to use her jutsu using only the trace amounts of moisture in the environment. It wouldn't be easy, especially in a desert, but she would never need to worry about thirst.

Actually, the discussion had made her feel a little special and stupidly lucky. Water and wind natured chakra types were both incredibly rare outside of their respective countries, as chakra type was affected by genetics and to a smaller extent the environment a child was raised in. Konoha's ninja were generally fire, earth, or lightning type (in that order of probability). Through pure dumb luck, she was one of less than ten water-types in Konoha's active forces.

That didn't mean she was feeling cocky, however. Her jutsu arsenal was currently a bit pathetic, and completely useless for combat in the environment she was headed to. Aiko scanned ahead as the group passed out of sight of the village. She didn't really expect any enemies within their borders, but caution was better than a failed mission.

Paying attention was all well and good, but that didn't mean she wasn't a little bummed about missing so much training time. After she had mastered hiding in a puddle, she had easily jumped to creating the Hiding in the Mist technique and the jutsu that would create a small rain effect. Those two were pretty useless so far, however, because she didn't have the other skills to go with them. Obscuring vision would do little good unless she had both the skills to hide within it and ways of tracking targets non-visually. As was, the mist would harm her performance about as much as it would an opponent, possibly more. The rain wasn't much better- it could be used as a sensory technique or as a method of dispersing poison (or as a prequel to hiding in a puddle or frying some motherfuckers with lightning). She didn't have the skills for any of that, nor a penchant for poisoning. Really, right now it was useful for gardening and not much else.

Aiko pulled herself out of depressing thoughts about her status as a sad, useless little Genin beginner to send out a chakra pulse as a scouting tool. She found nothing, as expected.

'_Really, what was I doing asking for a higher class mission?_' She hadn't really expected to get one so quickly. In a way it was touching that her teacher had fulfilled her request so quickly. But she really wasn't ready for real missions. At this point, she could only be a burden.

Depressing.

The bird calls in the area were familiar, but the way that their clumsy civilian clients made enough noise to scare them off wasn't. Aiko kept track of how distant the sounds appeared to be at any given time. Apparently she had better hearing for birds than they did for civilians. Her eyes flickered to the side. That was a freaking miracle. Those wagons were loud, and so was the cluster of teenagers who were already whining about the walk.

She didn't quite understand that. It had only been about four hours since they left the outlier village where they had met their civilian clients. For all that Kakashi-sensei teased her about being out of shape, Aiko could run for miles without problems, as long as she could stay hydrated. Minato and Kushina must have been amazing, because they passed on some rockin' genetics. Her mature mind had been enough to pass her off as an academic prodigy, but if she hadn't had serious physical potential too then she wouldn't have been promoted at ten. In the seven months since her graduation, Kakashi had pushed her to almost triple her speed. Individual instruction was an incredible tool for speeding up training. She was relatively certain now that she would be able to beat her old sparring partner… Or at least, she would have been if he hadn't been improving too. She made a face. There was no way he hadn't improved. He would be graduating soon, wouldn't he? He'd started three terms after she had, not a full year, meaning that he was probably closer to being two years older her than one. More importantly, Neji was still probably a total bastard.

Though the snail's pace was killing her and she was bored past the point of tears, Aiko dutifully channeled chakra to her ears for a short period to augment the sense when she noted it had been a while since she made a non-visual check. Nothing strange. Kakashi's hunter specialization meant that he'd had plenty of little tricks to pass on about finding opponents. She was a rank amateur at all of them, but a low-risk mission would probably be the place to improve on them.

Shadows were playing in the forest now. Calmly, she scanned the treetops, branches and underbrush for any signs of movement or tracks. "Well make camp here." Surprised, Aiko turned around to see her sensei indicating a spot slightly off the path. As the group settled and the civilians cheerily started cooking over open fires, Aiko made her way to her teacher. "After we eat, I'll take first watch." He pulled out his book and easily flipped it open to a page in the middle. "Do you want to try your hand at hunting, or should I get a rabbit?"

"I'll do it," she mumbled, wanting to be useful. "Preferences?"

"Hmm, not really." He flipped a page, although there was like, no way he'd read the last one already. "Don't go too far."

She snorted a little rudely. "I'm not going to find wildlife very close," Aiko said quietly.

"Closer than you think." He sighed. "Go on, now."

* * *

Chapter Word Total : 4,945

Cumulative word: 40,234


	8. Bildungsroman

Even her thin yellow shirt felt heavy on the shoulder blades, plastered as it was with disturbingly warm sweat.

_'Isn't the purpose of sweat to cool us down?'_

Aiko tried not to wheeze, feeling a painful dryness in her throat. She just wasn't used to the dry, hot air in Suna. Now that they were within sight of Suna, she and Kakashi were walking together at the end of the group. There was no point in trying to rush ahead of the civilians they were escorting.

Said civilians were currently talking with two nin who were probably the equivalent of Konoha's Chuunin gate guards- a gangly teenage boy who didn't yet have the muscle for his broad shoulders and a woman who was probably in her early to mid twenties.

With their paperwork verifying they had contracts to sell in Sand, the merchant wagons would get in with only a brief but incredibly invasive search of their goods and persons. The two Konoha ninja, on the other hand, would not exactly be welcomed, and not just because they were more likely to be dangerous than civilians. Their contract was a two-way trip, which meant that not only was Suna having to accept multiple foreign ninja in their village, those foreign ninja were actually taking business that Suna should have had.

It was strange and shitty, but Suna had been performing very poorly lately and losing a lot of missions. Aiko wouldn't have known that without the pre-mission briefing. She was under strict orders that basically boiled down to not acting like a jackass and causing extra tension between their villages.

"Next," the thin stern-faced kunoichi conducting the searches gestured for the last wagon to pull up while the others happily escaped into the village, eager to get out of the midday sun. Aiko sighed, leaning her head against her teacher's side and nestling into his arm. He firmly but gently put his hand on her head and pushed her off.

"Personal space, Aiko-chan." He steered her away until his arm was fully outstretched in a phenomenal display of social awkwardness.

She scoffed. "Don't pretend you don't like it." Still, she didn't try to lean on him again. It was too hot to touch another living being anyway.

"Okay, Konoha shinobi. Papers?" Kakashi smoothly moved forward to deal with the Chuunin guard. Aiko involuntarily grimaced, eyes bulging when his voice dropped half an octave from its already low pitch to something incredibly smooth and sexy. He leaned forward, tilting his head suggestively and somehow _looming_. The Chuunin who had previously looked so aloof was biting at her lip and tucking a lock of spiky brown hair behind her ear.

'_Oh, ewwww._' Aiko gagged, turning her face away. The Chuunin's coworker gave her a sympathetic look. "Yeah, that's pretty gross." He ran a hand through his short hair and made a face.

"Oh, your student is cleared." The woman handed back a sheaf of papers that she couldn't possibly have properly examined. Aiko and her new comrade-in-disgust snorted in unison.

"How nice," her teacher purred. Aiko felt her stomach turn. "Why don't you go check on our reservation at the inn?" Aiko eyed her teacher for just a second- she'd never seen him act like this. And it had been very sudden… '_He's up to something. I suppose I should play along.'_

"What a coincidence," she said flatly, locking her face into an impassive expression. "I'm going to leave."

"You do that," he said distractedly. _'Definitely an act, he's always paying attention_.' It seemed to fool the Suna nin, though. The kunoichi giggled, heavy lidded eyes blinking slowly while she preened under what appeared to be his undivided attention.

"You've scarred me for life," she said a little viciously. Her teacher merely crinkled his visible eye. Aiko snatched her papers in a fist and stomped off, practically fuming. She then proceeded to get completely, hopelessly lost. "All these buildings look alike," she said a little defensively to herself. '_I should probably go back and ask where the hotel is…' _She curled her toes in her open-front sandals, wishing she could keep the sand out. She'd only been in the desert for a few days, and she was already ridiculously sick of it.

"Oh come on," she quietly cursed. "It's only been like six minutes since I walked in the gaaate," she whined under her breath.

Much like Konoha, Suna was arranged to be confusing to outsiders. Unfortunately, she wasn't familiar with Suna at all. The streets were nearly empty, which made some sense. It was the hottest part of the day. The few people she did see under shady outcroppings or by windows gave her strange looks. _'How is it obvious that I'm an outsider to absolutely everyone around?'_ She tried to compare her clothing to that of the civilians she'd seen. It didn't seem to be very different. A little brighter in color, maybe.

"What are you doing here."

Aiko shrieked, stepping back and bringing one hand up to her throat. "Kami, you startled me," she breathed. A boy about her own age was giving her a stink-eye through messy bangs. He was another example of the exotic hair colors in this world. It looked like it came out of a box. She would have thought it was brown if it weren't for the red glinting in the sunlight and nearly blinding her.

Judging by the way he'd snuck up on her, he was a shinobi. She probably would have guessed that from the bandages holding down the edges of his pants anyways.

"You don't belong here."

"Well, sorr-yyy," she grumbled. "Looking for the Two Flowers hotel. Wanna help me so I don't spend all night wandering around your town?"

He blinked slowly, mouth twisting into a sneer. "Foreign moron. You're going the wrong way. The blue building over there," he pointed out.

"Uh, thanks Sunshine." She gave a loose salute and set off in the direction he indicated, but was cut off by a mean-faced teen with the wildest blonde hair she'd ever seen.

"You didn't explain why you're wandering around where you don't belong, brat."

"Making friends, Aiko-chan?" Her personal savior and teacher was suddenly there, looking very tall and serious. The kunoichi exchanged glances with her comrade, less sure about harassing an adult.

"Something like that, sensei." Aiko wound her arm through her teacher's elbow. "I thought I was going to be lost forever. Shinobi-san over there pointed me in the direction of our hotel. Kunoichi-san was just talking about how much she likes my hair. I like hers too."

"I'm sure," he said dryly. "Is there a problem here?"

The older girl narrowed her eyes at the two foreign nin. "I suppose not. Come on, otouto." The two sand nin left in a blur. Despite the theatrics, they weren't actually far above her level, if at all. She caught sight of them tapping away on the rooftops. _'A poor shunshin.'_

Aiko turned her full attention to her sensei. "Thanks. I take it you actually know where to go?"

"Of course." He started walking, presence diminished once again to his normal slumping 'harmless and barely awake' look. There was something incredibly disturbing about just how convincing that act was, even when she damn well knew better. "I wasn't expecting you to go very far. Most of Suna's citizens aren't overly enthused about outsiders."

"I wasn't expecting you to ditch me in a foreign power for a pretty face," Aiko grumbled, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Her teacher gave her a mildly amused look.

"Maa, so uncute. You don't have any faith in me, do you?" He sighed quietly. "Would it restore your respect in me if I told you that I was both speeding us into the village by easing possible tensions over our presence and distracting her from realizing that I was gauging the political climate?" His voice was completely bland.

_'The worst part is that I believe him. If he was really trying to get laid, he wouldn't do it on a mission around his 11 year old subordinate.'_

Aiko rolled her eyes fondly. "Don't worry, I'll respect you in the morning." Her sensei eyed her at the slight innuendo, clearly trying to gauge if it was intentional. She kept a straight face. Possibly the best thing about her situation was that she constantly got to mess with people who were unnerved by a pre-teen girl making dirty jokes. She was milking it for all she was worth- Kakashi-sensei would figure out pretty soon that she was aware of what she was saying. The game was only fun when people were kept off-balance, trying to figure out if they were perverts for hearing innuendo from a child's lips.

She carefully didn't cackle or even smile on the walk to their hotel_._

"One room please, two beds."

The tall woman behind the counter gave her teacher an unimpressed once-over, then a pointed look at the pre-teen girl he was asking to share a room with. Aiko blushed at the implication, but her teacher didn't react in the slightest. He merely waited for the room key, locked into pleasant detachment until the wrinkled crab behind the counter gave up and forked it over, giving him the evil eye all the while.

"Is it really so strange to share a room with your teacher?" she asked in an undertone while they took the stairs.

"No," he said shortly. He pulled out his book and lovingly opened it for the first time in quite a while, now that there was no risk of getting sand in it. He gently ran a finger down the spine, expression softening for the first time she'd ever seen. "That woman was just a pervert."

Aiko twitched_. 'I wish I could tell whether or not he's intentionally using irony.'_

* * *

Waiting for their clients to unload all of their merchandise in exchange for a whole lot of money was pretty boring. When she was lying awake in bed the first night, Aiko wondered if the blonde kunoichi she'd met had been Temari- which would make the boy either Kankuro or Gaara. Much more likely Kankuro, as Temari probably wouldn't spend her free time with Gaara.

'_Don't be stupid_.' She rolled over onto her tummy, sliding both arms around her pillow, trying to burrow even further under the hotel-provided covers. Suna was kind of a shithole- she cooked alive during the day and shivered all night. _'You can't assume that the first two shinobi you meet in Suna just happen to be the older two Sand Siblings. Blonde and reddish hair must just not be that rare in sand.'_

Still, the thought lingered. She kept an eye out over the next few days, but didn't see either of them.

Her teacher amused himself with books and using their mission budget in teahouses, but Aiko was bored out of her skull and anxious to get back to training. Kakashi made it clear, however, that practicing ninja skills within the borders of a foreign power was actually considered provocative and possibly hostile. For some strange reason, it made people nervous to see foreign military powering up jutsu, sprinting around or looking too interested in the environment.

After some consideration, she decided that being the cause of a diplomatic incident was slightly worse than missing out on training. Because she couldn't stand sitting around all day, she walked. Aiko wandered the streets from sun up until it was time to have a light meal, went to sleep, and woke up again after the worst of the heat had passed. She washed and re-wore her warmest clothes (and the light clothes layered under) and went out for the first few hours after dark, when the village lit up for a short time with music floating out from open doors and candy cooking. Apparently, it was customary to do socializing right after dark. It was very strange to a Konoha-raised girl. In her experience, the nightlife was for adults- definitely not a family affair like it was here. It wasn't raucous where the adults were drinking, either. Apparently Suna natives were relatively reserved even when partying it up.

It took a while, but Aiko managed to join in on the third night, slipping around the desert like a native. Her training in attention to detail helped- she learned how to wear her scarf like a native (her previous arrangement was apparently just Not Done for some reason) and switched out her standard issue blues for closed shoes she found in the market.

The group she had joined all seemed to be a little older than her- a group of civilians who were probably thirteen or so. Either they didn't mind her age or she could pass for a short teen, because she had no shortage of partners to laughingly help her through the steps of a dance she'd never seen before.

Instead of the partnered dances she was used to, it was apparently vogue in Sand to form concentric circles. The movements involved a motion like they were passing something around from hand to hand, circling partners, and rapid swirling. Aiko laughed, giddy. She wasn't the best dancer there, but the advantage of several years' worth of taijutsu training was enough that she could do a decent job of remembering the movements.

"Now turn!" listening to her new friend, a slim girl with black hair and teal eyes, Aiko spun quickly and crossed her arms at the wrists above her hand, then brought them apart to interlock her fingers with the girls on either side. The group quick-stepped inward and twisted, creating a tangle of arms above their heads.

Then the screaming started. It didn't last long, which was almost more disturbing than anything, as it choked off very suddenly. Aiko immediately freed her hands and turned in the direction it was coming from, but her civilian companions wasted a few long moments in confusion, as did the musicians. Whoever had made the sound had only been a few blocks away. The flutes and stringed instruments trickled to a stop, and the crowds began to move and murmur uneasily. The teal-eyed girl laid a hand on Aiko's shoulder. "You should go back to your room," she said quietly. "Come on."

Sure enough, the crowd was dispersing- swiftly, but in an orderly way she wouldn't have expected. The people were more nervous and annoyed than panicked- almost as if this was a routine occurrence.

"Why?" she hissed. "Do you know what's going on?"

"I have a pretty good idea," the older girl said grimly, steering her down the street. "But they won't give us the details. Any minute now they'll be sending out the order to clear the streets." An older boy with coloring similar to her new friend pushed out of the crowd and gave the two girl a tight smile.

"Alright there, Chiye?"

"Maa, maa," Chiye mumbled to the boy who almost had to be her brother. "Did you hear anything?"

"They think that freak killed someone," he said quietly. His eyes flickered over to the west. "Quieted down real fast, didn't it?"

"Quiet, you want to get taken away?" Chiye hissed. "Bishamon, this is Aiko. Can you take her back to her hotel?" The older boy barely looked at her before he agreed.

"That really won't be necessary," Aiko waved her hands. "I'll find it."

"Better safe than sorry. Relax, this is my cousin, he lives in that direction and he'll get you there safely. It would be pretty poor hospitality for you to walk alone across town. I'm going to catch up with my mom. Be safe, you too." She hastily hugged the older teen and pushed her way towards the other side of the street, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

"Let's go." The streets were quickly clearing as people filed into houses. Before too long they were almost alone. A siren of some sort went off. Aiko turned to look, but Bishamon indicated that she shouldn't look around. He stared straight forward, businesslike and as impassive as he could manage. "It's coming from the central tower, telling us to go inside. It's the same alarm that indicates a sandstorm, but in this case it just generally means the village is going into lockdown and that the streets are unsafe."

Conversation ended after that. He left her in the lobby and took off at a run, clearly anxious to get home. Aiko walked slowly through the halls, marveling at how strangely empty it was. The hotel's public areas weren't usually this empty unless it was the middle of the night, when it got cold enough to force even her inside.

Her teacher stopped his pacing and eyed her when she came in. He didn't make any obvious changes in expression or body language, but she got the sense that he was relieved. In response to her unasked question, he shrugged. "Whatever is going on here was apparently something they didn't want me seeing. When the siren started I went to look for you, but a helpful group of Jounin escorted me back to the room." His attention flickered to the window. They'd been given a room without glass or curtains, only a thin screen to keep out sand. Most windows in Suna were like that, but… '_We're being monitored,'_ she realized. That made some sense- they'd have to be really stupid to let foreigners wander around unobserved. She subtly flashed her next question through handsigns.

**Do you think they can hear us?**

"No," he said easily, "but they can probably read your lips." He didn't have to explain that his mask made that impossible for anyone to do to him. Aiko scowled and considered the benefits of a mask for the first time.

She went and sat on her bed, turning her back to the window. "I got the impression that the civilians I was with knew what happened," she confided quietly. "One of them said something that implied a well-known figure had killed someone and that this was unsurprising. They were worried about being overheard, which hints that whoever this is, they're protected by someone powerful." She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Now that she wasn't moving, she was starting to feel cold.

_'Is Gaara the 'freak' they mentioned? It seems likely. Not many domestic issues would send a village into lockdown like this.'_ Her heart pounded at the notion. '_At this point, he's really dangerous. I don't want to mess with whatever is going on here.'_

Her teacher absorbed the information silently before giving a slight nod. "I see. Well, it's beyond our mission parameters, so we're not doing anything unless we're attacked."

"Hai, sensei," she agreed, slipping into formality as a source of comfort from the strange situation.

They weren't allowed to leave their room for twenty four hours. Their food was delivered directly to their door- an assortment of plain brown rice and vegetables. Aiko found herself incredibly grateful to be with a professional- Kakashi checked all the food for poisons easily and quickly. Her academy-trained mind was more than a bit uncomfortable eating food that she hadn't seen prepared.

"One of the few medical jutsu I know," he commented when he caught her staring as his hand lit up with green. "I'll teach you eventually, if your control is good enough."

Overnight they received a message from one of their clients- the group was ready to go back home, and were being pressured to get out. They didn't say that, exactly, but the two could read between the lines. They packed up their meager supplies and met with their clients at the same gate they'd entered, followed the entire way by less-than-inconspicuous Suna nin, as if to make a point.

Kakashi sighed. "Well, off on another adventure." Aiko stared up at her teacher for a long moment, and then shook her head as if to ward off his weirdness. It was safer not to reply to that.

The first four days of their trip back to where they'd met the caravan passed in bland monotony, where the only excitement was the first time that someone spotted greenery. Well. Other than the occasional "Eek! Look, there's a scorpion/snake/poisonous rabbit, kill it with fire!" (everything in this desert was poisonous, from the animals to the cacti to even the rocks). Only a few hours of walking after that exciting discovery got them out of the desert proper and into a sort of scrubland with bushes and ratty grass that was slightly less fiendishly hot. After almost two weeks in the desert, it was a welcome change in scenery and temperature.

Aiko was still incredibly frustrated by the pace- if they had traveled at ninja speeds, even a genin like her could have made the trip from Konoha to Suna in less than four days. It apparently took civilians something like eleventy billion years. She half expected to evolve spurs or poison sacs like a desert creature before she ever made it home.

She considered sharing that theory with her teacher, but didn't want to risk it. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would allow whining on a mission.

Kakashi-sensei was a wall of professionalism and impassivity the entire trip back. It seemed a little strange for her giggly, porn-reading teacher, but Aiko eventually decided to think of it as his 'game face'. The only other option was some sort of dissociative personality disorder. She didn't want to think she'd been given to a teacher with such blatant issues, so 'game face' it was.

She was almost grateful when the bandits attacked.

Aiko sensed them long before they came out of cover and had a staccato conversation with her teacher in the Konoha equivalent of Morse code, casually drifting to more tactical positions.

**Six civilians**, her teacher tapped. **Also one low genin/high academy level. Do not engage first.**

**Fatalities or subdue?** She signed back, not knowing the tap code. He slowly blinked through a heavy-lidded gray eye, lowering his head very slightly into a nod.

**Standard**. Well, that answered that. No one wanted more bandits running around that would menace future genin teams.

It was an unfortunate fact of life for civilian soldiers/mercenaries that engaging in only the physical aspects of shinobi-like activity would give them very distinctive chakra signatures. Only shinobi learned how to hide their chakra signatures from sensing techniques, so even her tenuous grasp of sensory awareness was enough to make it impossible to surprise her when she was paying attention.

Her teacher took the rear, the most likely location for a good ambush to strike. Of course, if they weren't good, they would attack from the front. A middling attack would probably come from the side. With her position in the middle of the group, she was relatively ready to respond to any mediocre opponents.

And were they ever mediocre. Their ambush took place along a long stretch of straight road two lanes wide-plenty of room to move- with little cover. She sighed and tried not to face-palm in embarrassment that her first real combat experience was with a bunch of dorks hiding behind bushes. They attempted to stand up at once and menace the group, the leader growling out his terms (hand over your money and no one gets hurt, yadda yadda). Kakashi ended that quickly with a casually tossed kunai to the forehead. As the man stupidly fell over, cross eyed, his companions rushed the group.

It was very quick. Her teacher seemed to want it to be a learning experience- he kept his one visible eye on her fights while he half-heartedly kept four of the amateur bandits away from their clients. They didn't seem enthusiastic about fighting him- they doubtlessly hadn't expected shinobi. "None of these are going to have a bounty worth collecting," he called mildly. "Go on, that one looks easy." He gently batted a man holding a long, chipped blade in her direction. He looked a bit offended.

_'It's like a mama cat teaching a kitten to hunt…'_

Despite how ludicrous the situation seemed, the combination of rote taijutsu and the ingrained need to follow her sensei's orders got her through the fight. She easily crushed her first opponent's trachea, outright surprised when he didn't block the beginner's move and fell, dead. _'That was easy. Should it be this easy?'_ She turned at the sound of furious screaming and slipped under the sword that tried to gut her.

Aiko didn't have to think about the movements that had her plant a fist into his gut, swing him over her shoulder and then bring the man to the ground and force him into a submission hold in less than two seconds. She pushed his wrists all the way up to his shoulder blades held criss-cross and crouched with one foot firmly on his lower back. A moment later she realized her mistake- that gave her time to think, and she didn't know that she could finish him when he couldn't fight back. She sat frozen, holding his arms twisted up behind his back in a way that had to hurt for someone who didn't have the flexibility of a shinobi. If she'd been alone, one of the other seven original attackers might have finished her while she was stunned.

Kakashi, long since finished, crouched at her side. "All right there?"

"Hai, sensei. What… what should I do?" She jerked her head at the one survivor, who only now seemed to realize the sounds of fighting had died down. He began shrieking something incomprehensible, eyes wide with terror.

Kakashi didn't appear to have sympathy. "Why don't you go assure our clients that everything is fine? I'll finish up here." He firmly pressed a hand on the back of the restrained bandit's neck, forcing him into stillness. Aiko stumbled away, suddenly feeling sick. A horrible snapping sound filled the air behind her, but she didn't turn to look. All she wanted to look at was her hands. She stared with a terrible focus. They looked like they always did. Less than two minutes ago, she'd killed a man with them as easily as she used them to eat rice. She wasn't even sweating.

'_It's not supposed to be that easy.'_ She pressed her hands to her chest, trying to stop the shaking. That had probably not even been twenty pounds of force. She'd gotten harder hits from Neji in the academy. How was a grown man so fragile?

_'Don't be stupid,_' she thought fiercely, suddenly angry with herself. '_You knew what you were getting into. Shinobi kill people. And they would have killed our clients if we weren't here.'_ She knew damn well that shinobi got some morally dubious orders, but this wasn't one of them. This was protecting people. That's different. While her teacher took care of the –mess, took care of the mess, she did her best to assure everyone that everything was under control and that they would be able to start moving again soon.

Somehow, it was hard to convince herself that everything was normal. None of the civilians seemed outraged or disgusted that she'd killed a man in front of them- a few of them nodded at her approvingly, and one woman even thanked her, the aunt escorting the group of teenagers who had shucked her veneer of respectability like a second skin when they left town. She seemed somehow diminished and paler without pins in her hair or slick red lipstain. Aiko nodded dully.

"It's nasty business," she rasped, fingers searching for one of the cigarettes she'd run out of days ago. "But you showed them, eh sweetheart?"

* * *

Aiko separated from her teacher at the village gates. He sent her home- they'd do the proper de-briefing sometime soon, after he'd had a chance to submit the mission report and it was filed with the mission desk.

She didn't go straight home. Aiko wandered the streets for a while, not really thinking until she realized she was outside the civilian petstore.

One slim hand with short fingers just losing their baby pudge patted the thin fold of bills she'd received as payment for her mission. She couldn't actually feel them through the fabric of her holster, but knowing they were there was enough. In relatively quick time, she found the most ridiculous, fluffy cat in the whole store- a confectionary affair of an animal with soft black fur, delicate paws, and unnerving green eyes. She probably looked absolutely strange walking down the street with dusty leggings, a bulging knapsack and an armful of protesting kitty, but she was feeling the need for a hug. She hadn't dared ask her teacher for one, she couldn't tell her baby brother she'd killed a man and she had no one else, so giving hugs was going to have to substitute getting them.

"Smaug," she said abruptly to a cat who didn't seem to care, doing his level best to escape with half the skin on her chest while she struggled with the doorknob of her apartment. "You're Smaug."

The dragon cat didn't care one way or another about his new name.

* * *

Naruto loved Smaug. Smaug didn't love Naruto. Smaug did his level best to assassinate both children until Naruto decided to win feline love with food. She let him feed the cat takeout ramen. Apparently Iruka had started taking him out to Ichiraku while she was gone. The babble washed over her like foamy sea water, a comforting undulation of white noise syllables without meaning. He'd beat Kiba in a spar. Sakura had snapped and challenged Ami to a spar and won, but got her very first detention. A girl had been dropped from the class. Sasuke was still a bastard. Mizuki-sensei was still a bastard. Neji was still a bastard but he hadn't been seen since graduation. He was going to be the Hokage one day.

Over the next few days, she patched together a new normal that started with three lunches instead of two- one for the spoiled cat, who had decided he would tolerate her as a live-in servant and followed her around town to her morning practice, getting dust on his coat. Every day she returned him to the apartment, picked up her lunch and opened his, met Kakashi for training, went home for a shower or went to the onsen to listen to the conversation of strangers, then went home for dinner or went out with Naruto and sometimes Ino and a couple of time Kiba joined the two of them, giving Aiko strange glances all the while.

After her second successful C-class mission, she didn't get D-class missions anymore. Technically she had a B-class on her record from tagging along when Kakashi caught that prospective missing nin, so she looked pretty good on paper.

To keep up with the fact that she'd be in more combat situations, her teacher drilled her mercilessly on taijutsu and forced her to perfect the water jutsu she knew, as well as some tactics for using them together. Once that was done, he taught her first real offensive water skill- something she likened to a spray of bullets. Depending on the speed and chakra she used, they could either punch holes in flesh or just knock someone over.

Her teacher had stared at her when she'd mastered it on the second try with something like nostalgia. He wasn't entirely surprised, however. It didn't require control or finesse so much as it did enthusiasm.

That she had in spades. Aiko had gotten her first real taste of shinobi life. If she was going to make anything better, she needed to work hard and fast.

Changing the course of a world (or at least a continent) wasn't work for amateurs.

* * *

Chapter Word Total: 5,326

Story Word Total: 45,560

That's the end of that- I'm considering the November writing challenge done. Aiko has come to the important conclusions she's been avoiding, so it's a good place to end.

I am, however, going to continue this. Any strong feeling about whether it should be as a separate story or as a next arc in the same story should be submitted via review- I have justifications for both options but would like to hear what others think, since I fly beta-less. I'm considering doing a time-skip of about a year to Naruto's graduation, in either case.


	9. Chapter 9

Arc Two

* * *

"Aiko, Aiko! Oneesan!" Naruto waved the blue fabric above his head, pushing his way through the students milling around outside. He barreled directly into her with force that would have knocked over a lesser pre-teen. Some of his now-former classmates gave him strange looks. Students dropped out of the Academy all the time. Since she'd been out for two whole years, most of her former classmates had probably forgotten she ever attended.

Indulgently, Aiko hugged her otouto for all she was worth, trying to focus on him and not all the soggy-looking student glaring in his direction. Sometimes his hyperactivity made her tired, but since today was his day of triumph she was willing to let it slide. He'd earned his headband, although not in the way she'd half expected.

She'd spent a long time trying to make up her mind about letting his graduation go according to 'plan'. The thought of her brother failing and being tricked by Mizuki-bastard was really unappealing. The thought of letting him be hurt in that way made her heart ache, even if she knew it would strengthen his fledgling bond with Iruka-sensei.

In the end, she didn't have to make a decision. Her otouto had come to her with watery blue eyes and a request to help him practice his jutsu so he could graduate, and she bent over backwards to accommodate. She knew perfectly well what the problem was- he had too much chakra and too little control to use the tiny smidge of spiritual power required for a standard bunshin.

So he wasn't going to use a standard bunshin.

She hadn't used one since she graduated- they were stupid anyways. Unfortunately, Naruto's primary affinity was wind (she reminded him daily for weeks that he'd never be as cool as her after she 'found out' with chakra paper), but he seemed to have some small aptitude for water and the sheer determination to make it work. That tiny bit of talent and his enormous willpower resulted in beautiful water clones.

His ridiculous chakra reserves helped him flood the academy classroom with them. Literally, once they were all dispelled. As he laughingly explained to her over celebratory barbeque, he almost didn't pass because Mizuki was so furious he tried to have him failed for using non-standard bunshin under the premise that he wasn't obeying the letter of the rule.

"But Iruka-sensei sure told him! It was awesome, oneesan." Naruto fidgeted, practically ready to explode out of his seat and bounce off the walls. The bulky man who'd brought them their food eyed him warily.

Aiko gave the man a sharp glare, telling him to fuck off silently. She tilted her head slightly so his eyes were drawn to her headband- visibly marred like only a headband that had seen action could be.

He left.

"nd even if I hadn't had the bunshin at all, I still would have passed because I had that extra credit in projectiles! You were right, oneesan."

"Aren't I always?" She stole a piece of particularly attractive-looking beef off his plate and tried not to laugh at the way he squawked.

"Hey, don't be mean!"

"I'm paying aren't I," she said blandly. It was theoretically a treat- but really, she paid for almost everything. As of today, the small checks Naruto received as an orphan in ninja training would end, but she'd really been paying all the bills with what she earned running missions anyway. It wasn't a problem- despite the fact that she didn't run nearly as many missions as she had when she first became a Genin, C and B class missions paid exponentially better.

Judging by the three fat wallets she had hidden in the apartment, Kakashi was either secretly a millionaire or had some illicit and ungodly expensive habit, like maybe he was currently building a summer home entirely out of diamonds using unicorns and princesses as laborers- nothing else could explain why he was so damn cheap. The man made plenty of money.

Her sensei ran fewer missions without her these days. Once she had figured out that he hadn't been taken off the roster for high level missions, his frequent absences and the days he just didn't show up for training made a lot more sense. She hadn't been cleared for A-class missions, so he ran those with another team, but she was his shadow in everything else.

That had caused no small amount of amusement among the elite Jounin who seemed to know him by sight- the first time that she had toddled out of the village behind him in a matching mask, the couple sitting at the gate had burst out laughing.

"This is my mission face," she'd said blandly, as if that was an answer. It made sense to her- she was terrible at controlling her emotions and expressions. That wasn't appropriate when she was on the clock. In a way, putting on the mask made it easy for her to become another person. She had never explained that to her sensei. He'd seemed unnerved the first time he saw her in a black cloth mask, but never commented.

"When do you get your team assignments?" she asked, already knowing.

His expression brightened, the slight against his dinner already forgotten. "First thing tomorrow, 'ttebayo! Hey, hey, do you think I should change my look?" He tugged at his blue t shirt. "This doesn't look very shinobi-ish. I'm a real ninja now, and I should look like one!"

"Fine by me," she agreed easily. Aiko liked playing dress-up. She hadn't changed her look significantly in the past year so much as she'd added identical outfits in different colors. Black, gray and blue were 'mission' colors, and she didn't wear them within the village anymore. It helped her both pack quickly and compartmentalize her life. Her headband had been put on black fabric, and she wore it around her waist almost every day. Today she was in red- a cheery cherry shade.

Her hair, on the other hand, had changed in the past year. That was more because she was bad at cutting it than that she was vain about having long hair. When she wore it in a pony tail, it was just barely long enough to brush the base of her neck. When she felt childish, it made for two adorable spiky pigtails jutting out on either side of her face.

She'd never understand how most ninja seemed to only ever own one outfit at any given point in time. It was gross and depressing.

They loaded Naruto up with several pairs of the standard-issue blue pants (apparently he didn't find them as depressing as she did). Aiko laughed for a while that he had to buy them in a women's small while he pouted and tugged out the incriminating tags. He located long-sleeved blue shirts that matched. Just when she was starting to think she had somehow warped him into an incredibly boring person, he gleefully snatched short sleeved shirts in orange, yellow, and green and then started pawing through hilariously oversized sunglasses. She put a stop to the last part, but couldn't bear to tell him he couldn't replace his orange goggles. They were adorable, frankly.

"Oh crap, I forgot to feed the dragon." Aiko stopped and gaped at her brother. So did the rather disturbed-looking old lady who had been glaring disdainfully at him when he said it, turning pale and hobbling away.

"How could you, Naruto? That's terrible! Poor kitty cat."

Said cat seemed to agree. He gave Naruto the long, slow look that usually meant he was going to try to smother Naruto in his sleep by laying on his face sometime in the night. In apology, Aiko filled up a short bowl with whipped cream from a can and sprinkled it with catnip. He was a little kinder when he was high. Some days, she wished Smaug was a nin-cat so she could teach him to breathe fire. Alas, he was just a particularly angry house cat.

* * *

"That's fucking ridiculous," Sarutobi Asuma complained through a mouthful of smoke. "That team is stacked." His female companion grabbed his cigarette right out of his mouth and dropped it, crushing it under her heel. He stared at her slack-jawed, feeling more than a little betrayed. The civilian secretary, on the other hand, outright shrieked. No one paid her any mind.

"What do you have to complain about?" Kurenai nudged him companionably, smiling a little at his expression. "You have a dream team, too. Ino-Shika-Cho? You really got a nice set-up and the top kunoichi of the year. You'll love it." Her expression softened into a full smile, red eyes sparkling. "Isn't it so exciting? Our first genin teams! I've been waiting for this since I became a Chuunin."

"Goody," Asuma muttered, not remotely excited about having a genin team. He'd been avoiding the duty for years. Jounin-level shinobi who were considered stable enough to train children were in pretty short supply (and the criteria for 'stable enough to teach' were frighteningly vague). The assignment wasn't as flattering as Kurenai seemed to think it was, even if they had been gifted with the crème de la crème.

No point in bursting her bubble, though. She'd wise up on her own- or maybe she really would like the duty as much as she hoped. He wished her the best, really he did. But Kakashi…

"I just don't get that bastard. He doesn't even like kids. I don't get why Hokage-sama (the last word was tinged with more than a bit of irony) is letting him have his cake and eat it too."

Kurenai shrugged philosophically. "Do you really want a team with the angriest little Uchiha" (an unofficial and rather unkind nomme de plume gifted by superiors) "and a jinchuuriki?"

"Not when you phrase it like that," he muttered. "But when you remember that the angry little Uchiha is the top student of the year and that this'll complete his set of Namikaze kids…"

Anko swooped out of absolutely nowhere with a creepy grin and the smell of scales (which seemed to be her main form of transport, followed closely by 'materializing out of the darkness' and 'already waiting in your closet when you go to look for linens') and punched his shoulder, hard. "Oh sorry, didn't see you there." The ridiculous lie clearly baffled both of the Jounin she'd interrupted, which the new special Jounin seemed to take as a compliment. She grinned fiercely, and poked his cheek with a dango stick. "Gotta watch what you say," she warned cheerily. "You're going to be spending a lot of time around ankle biters. It'd fuckin' suck if you polluted their precious little brains with things they shouldn't know, wouldn't it?"

Kurenai's brain nearly shut down at that bit of hypocrisy. "Anko-san, what are you doing here?" she asked wearily. The younger woman beamed.

"I get to fail my very first genin team! Glad I'm not one of you fuckers. I'd cry a river of blood if I were asked to train three midgets to show up our allies at Chuunin exams in three months."

A shiver went up Kurenai's spine. _'Hokage-sama was willing to risk letting Mitarashi-san have a genin team? That's just frightening. Maybe this assignment isn't such an honor after all_.'

Eager to go, as soon as Iruka and Mizuki stepped out of the classroom and asked them to gather their short people one at a time, Kurenai gave a tiny squeal, straightened her spine, and walked in. A few minutes later she walked back out with three ankle-biters, one of whom was gazing up at her adoringly with big pale eyes.

Asuma sighed. "Time to face the music, I guess." He raised an eyebrow at Anko. "You want to go first?"

She waved him off. "Nah. I need a moment to get all the laughter out before I crush their hopes and dreams. Or worse, get stuck with a team of little shits." She shuddered.

"Suit yourself," he mumbled, wishing he had another cigarette or reason to put this off. With a sigh, he stuck his head in. "Team Ten? Follow me." He ambled down the hall, looking as if he'd rather be dead. A short scuffled erupted inside the classroom, and then the door banged all the way open. A blonde girl dressed in a ridiculous purple outfit strutted out, followed by an anxious Akimichi (you could always pick them out of a crowd) and with her nails digging so far into the wrist of the other boy behind her that he was outright hustling to keep up. Anko howled with laughter, not minding when the chit huffed and turned her nose up.

"Oh, that's cute." She propped the door open. "Team six? Get your skinny asses out to the playground, stat." Her voice dropped an entire octave into something shockingly sinister. "We're going to play a little game."

* * *

"I can't believe you did this to me," Naruto said flatly, staring straight up at the ceiling. Sasuke gave him a baffled look. "You knew, the whole time. I thought you loved me."

Sasuke inched away.

The strange girl who had showed up with their new sensei and claimed to be his side-kick snickered, fiddling with her copper ponytail. Sakura put a hand to her own long hair, smirking in a self-satisfied way. Sasuke tried not to think about what was going on in her head. That way only leads to madness. The stranger teased, "of course I love you. That's why I knew just how hilarious your face would be after Sensei made you wait a million years."

Uncharacteristically, Sasuke interjected, both relieved that his new teammate wasn't hitting on him and eager for information about the strange man who had made him wait. "Is that man always so late?" His face twisted in a grimace when she nodded.

"Come on, you guys." She made a shoo-ing motion. "Didn't you hear him say to meet on the roof?"

The blonde idiot rolled his eyes. "You're not there either, so don't nag."

"Aren't I?" she asked noncommittally. The girl gave a sharp little smile that didn't quite reach her eyes- and then Naruto cursed, moving backwards in slow motion, but not fast enough to escape the minor explosion as the girl dissolved into water.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his now-soaking teammate and took off for the stairs. "Idiot." Left unsaid was that he hadn't noticed the girl was a water clone either. Sakura took a moment to squeal over just how cool he was before falling in behind him. "Hey, wait up you guys!" Naruto sneezed, trying to squeeze excess water out of his shirt.

Up on the rooftop, Aiko grabbed her teacher's wrist with her left to hold up his hand and gave it a high-five with her own. "Excellent work!" He docilely let her arrange his arm as she wanted, limp. Kakashi had recently discovered that one of the best ways to deal with children was to deny them a reaction. If he pretended to be dead or in a sudden coma, they got bored and went away (to call for help sometimes. That was always funny). It never worked for long on Aiko, but then again it was hard to escape an apprentice.

"I bet anything I can manipulate them into passing your test without saying thing about it," she challenged in a sing-song tone, snuggling into his side. He rolled an eye. _'That'd be a miracle._' It seemed like sacrilege that he was going to have to pass this team.

The other three brats toddled up the stairs, the pink-haired girl paying an inordinate amount of attention to the Uchiha's rear end. Kakashi sighed internally, already resigned to his fate. He only had to get these three up to Chuunin level in three months. No big, right?

The blonde one tripped over his own feet and blamed it on a butterfly. Suddenly, Kakashi felt very sorry for himself.

"Let's do introductions," he said in a purposefully bland voice. Do not engage more than necessary. No eye contact. "You first, pinky pie."

Sakura looked a little uncertain. "Just my name?"

"And any other relevant facts," Aiko chirped. "Things you like, dislike, hope to accomplish. Stuff like that." Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

The other girl gave her a grateful smile. It was a fake one as well. "Right! I'm Haruno Sakura. I like…" her eyes trailed over to Sasuke. He froze like a deer in front of a predator. She giggled, turning pink. "I like lots of things, and certain people! I don't like Ino or…" she trailed off, eying Aiko and apparently re-thinking whatever she'd been about to say. "ramen. My dream… well. I can't say."

Judging by the way she honed in on the poor brunette like a hungry wolf might a bleeding rabbit, Kakashi didn't think he needed her to say it aloud.

'_This one is going to be a terror to teach. It might be kinder to pressure her into leaving the program and ask the Hokage for a replacement. She might actually tie him up in her closet so he can never leave her. Seems the type._'

While the sole adult was processing that and deciding to carefully avoid teaching her anything dangerous until she was less obviously unstable, Naruto gasped theatrically and started to babble something doubtlessly inane about ramen. Unamused, Kakashi pointed at him with his whole hand. "Go."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, but with a brief glance at his sister's amused expression, he resigned himself to it. "Fine. I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I love ramen, my precious people, and I'm going to be the Hokage one day, 'ttebayo!" He stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "Now you, bastard."

Sasuke twitched, but smoothly introduced himself when prompted. "I don't have many interests or things that I like. I do have an ambition, however." How perfectly droll.

"What's that," Naruto asked, inappropriately invading his teammate's personal space. He probably learned it from his sister, who pulled that kind of thing all the time. The Uchiha batted him away. He'd learn how pointless that was soon enough, Kakashi was sure. They just didn't give up.

"To kill a certain man and restore my clan." He stared forward darkly. If he'd been less experienced, the Copy nin might have thought he didn't care about his peers' reaction. But he knew better, especially since the kid had brought it up unprompted. He was looking for a reaction to his declaration that he already wanted to kill someone. His bright little apprentice seemed to catch that as well, if her mischievous expression was anything to go by. So…

"Your dream is to be a dad?" Aiko asked, a curious smile tugging at her lips. "That's wonderful." Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed. Sakura giggled, a hand creeping up to her face.

"Moving on," Kakashi interrupted, wanting to get this over with. "Hatake Kakashi, your Jounin instructor. That is," he chuckled, "assuming you pass the test."

"We just passed the test!" Naruto informed. "No way!"

"That was just a test to weed out those who had no chance at becoming Genin. It's funny, you see. Only one third of prospective students that graduate actually get to be Genin."

Their horrified faces were adorable. He tried not to enjoy frightening small children more than he absolutely had to. "Meet me tomorrow at training ground se-"

"We didn't finish introductions," Sasuke pointed out, glaring a little at Aiko. "Who are you?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Um, Sasuke-san," she began, rubbing at her neck, "I was in your class for two years. I'm Naruto's older sister, remember? Uzumaki Aiko?"

"No. You must not have been interesting."

Naruto turned bright red. "Hey bastard, you can't just say-"

"As I was saying, meet at training ground seven at seven am for your test to see if any of you deserve to be genin," Kakashi interrupted crossly. "One last piece of advice? If I were you, I wouldn't eat breakfast. You'll probably just throw it all up." With that, he was gone.

"He's such a drama queen." Aiko stood up. "Come on kittens, let's go for lunch and get to know each other as a team. My treat." She reached out and snagged an arm from each boy, apparently trusting Sakura to follow. Naruto was resigned to being dragged around like an especially large doll, but Sasuke made the mistake of struggling. "It wasn't a request. We're going to be the best of friends, you and I," she said darkly.

From his perch a few buildings away, Kakashi observed his new team (and wasn't that a horrible thought, he'd only ever had one team and now he had a team again and not just co-workers or an apprentice, _a team_, a whole flock of short people depending on him for protection and learning). The Uchiha boy was attempting to slide out of Aiko's grasp. Kakashi couldn't see what she said, but whatever it was caused the boy to go limp for just a moment. That was all she needed. No matter how intense he was, Sasuke was just a little boy, a freshly minted genin. Aiko was technically a Chuunin, but she could probably give weaker Jounin runs for their money.

Her lack of promotion to Jounin had been a very intentional move, for multiple reasons. On Kakashi's part, it was because an apprentice was only really tied to their sensei as a lower level nin. Despite being emotionally constipated, he really did want to protect Sensei's children. The best way he knew to do that was to teach them to be strong enough to take care of themselves when he wasn't there- but be there anyways so they didn't have to be.

Luckily, he wasn't the only one invested in the apprenticeship. The Council had some bizarre idea that their top active nin was going to pass down all his specialties to her. Well. That was the traditional meaning of an apprenticeship, but that didn't mean he'd exactly given away the Hatake summoning contract yet. As long as he hadn't taught her his unique skill set or those of her parents that only their genetic relations could use (hello, previously lost whirlpool jutsu and one-man Hirashin) then there was no way they'd take the kid away from him.

The Council had their fingers in all sorts of pies these days, really.

The Copy-nin frowned, trying not to think about the bizarre pressure the Council was exerting on teams 7, 8, and 10 to push their rookies into the Chuunin exams being held in Konoha in three months. In one way, he understood. The teams had been stacked with the best of the best, and it would be an incredibly effective propaganda victory to completely dominate the exams while putting the children that the council had so many hopes for in as little danger as possible.

Most of this group- well, the next exams were in Iwa and then Cloud. Konoha was going to be sending exactly zero genin with bloodlines there, which would probably hurt their juggernaut standing as the most powerful village. If they were still riding on a high from the upcoming exams, however, that lack wouldn't be as obvious.

Kakashi stared glumly forward, trying to work up the will to read his beloved books. There was absolutely no way he'd be allowed to fail this team, not even the pink-haired tagalong. He was going to be stuck looking at a four-and-a-half foot tall (exaggeration, but the point still stood) mob of painful memories every day until they left, at which point he was going to have to worry about them. There was really no winning with this.

* * *

Sakura settled into the booth first, praying Sasuke-kun would sit next to her. The other girl –_who was wearing her black forehead protector around her waist as if to emphasize how small it was, what a bitch_- slid in instead, which was the second-best outcome. Sakura didn't want to have to sit next to that idiot Naruto, and she **definitely** didn't want the other girl getting up close to Sasuke-kun. She could hardly believe that was the girl who'd graduated two years ago. She looked like a real ninja in her plain green tunic, matching pants and knee high black boots. Even worse, she looked older than twelve. Sakura glumly adjusted her top discreetly, trying to look voluptuous. It wasn't working.

In the aisle in front of their booth, the two boys looked somewhere between constipated and combative, determinedly not staring each other down and not sitting down first.

"Sasuke, you'll want to sit first. Naruto has way too much energy to be trapped between a person and a wall. He'll make you get up a hundred times."

While Naruto sputtered and denied the accusation, the dark-haired boy gave up and sat down, sliding until he was pressed up against the wall. He looked as though he was being tortured, but Naruto did as well, sitting on the very edge. Sakura cleared her throat.

"So, ah… Why are you here, Aiko-san? Genin teams are made of cells of three, aren't they?"

"Correct," Aiko said blandly. "I'm a Chuunin. Do you know how apprenticeships work?" When no one volunteered information, she continued in a matter-of-fact way.

"You three are in a genin cell, but I never was. Instead, I apprenticed under Kakashi-sensei because he has a very specific skill set that the Hokage wanted him to pass on to me. That bond isn't severed until one of two things happen- both parties want it over, or the apprentice reaches Jounin levels. Neither has happened, since I still have more to learn from Kakashi-sensei. But then come along you three-" She gestured expansively. "Who for one reason or another, the council committee feels belong under Kakashi-sensei's mentorship. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there's a rush order on you three. Hokage-sama wants you all either promoted to Chuunin or at least ready to make a bid for promotion in three months."

_'If that doesn't get their skinny asses in gear, nothing will.'_ Aiko kept her face carefully impassive. She had an unfair advantage in manipulating these kids. She didn't feel guilty for using it.

The three genin's faces were a study in shock. They quickly transitioned to various expressions of pride or confusion, but no one said anything before the waitress plodded over unenthusiastically for their drink orders.

After the interruption, it was Sakura who brought up the old topic. "Isn't that really unusual? I thought people sometimes spent years as genin."

"We're just that awesome!" Naruto grinned wide enough that Aiko's cheeks hurt just looking at him. She solved the problem by flicking a senbon at him, letting it sink into the vinyl of the booth back a half inch from his ear.

"It's rude to shout at the table," she said mildly. "Konoha is hosting Chuunin exams in three months. They're kind of a big deal for the village in that they're a show of strength to prospective clients. The idea is that if we can crush the competition with rookie contestants, we'll be showing that our brand shiny new genin are better than their experienced ones. You three have been picked as a group that has exceptional potential as a team."

_'Keyword being as a __**team**__. Pay attention, kiddies. Remember this for the test tomorrow.'_

Sasuke seemed to flinch, carefully not looking at either of his 'teammates' and scowling.

"Anyway. Since I'm his apprentice, I think I'm getting screwed into doing his grunt work. With that in mind, you'll all three be doing my morning training. Ah, yes, thank you." She took the glass of apple juice the waitress had brought, swigging it down in an unladylike manner. Sakura tried not to grimace.

"Tell me about yourself, Sakura. Not the kind of things you said up there. Your strengths and weaknesses- in other words, what you can contribute to the team and what the team is going to do for you to make the group better." She eyed the boys. "You two think about your answers to the same question. Anyone who claims they have no weaknesses is going to get laughed all the fucking way to Suna."

_'If they don't figure out to use teamwork tomorrow, I will personally beat them all up. I'm doing all the work for them.'_

* * *

Omake:

"eam Seven will be Haruno, Sakura; Uchiha, Sasuke; and Uzumaki, Naruto. Your Jounin sensei…" pause. A whispered 'is that right? Huh. Poor bastards.' Then, "Hatake Kakashi."

"YES!" Naruto leapt out of his seat and directly onto the desk, flowing effortlessly into an impromptu dance. "This is great! Except that you're involved." He pointed directly at Sasuke, who looked more than a bit disgruntled. "You're terrible. In fact, are you certain I can't make a trade for like, Shino or something?"

"No trades," Iruka said dryly. "Sit down and shut up, Naruto. Moving on. Team Eight…"

Kiba scowled at Sasuke, who lowered his eyebrows imperceptibly in confusion. He didn't know why dog-face would be pissed at him. Had he wanted to get on a team with Naruto? It figured. Loud, mediocre idiots should probably stick together.

Akamaru whimpered sympathetically and licked his human friend's face. "Thanks buddy," he sighed. Hinata and Shino seemed alright (the latter both preening at being requested and incredibly grateful to have escaped being placed with Naruto). Kiba had been hoping for a different assignment, though. Forget trading Shino- he'd trade places with Sasuke in a minute. Naruto was kind of loud and annoying, but it would be worth it. His sister was freaking hot.

* * *

I tried to make it seem like Aiko was a genin on their team for as long as possible, just to mess with you. Non-canon team is non-canon! Basically, I shot some things about team arrangement with my AU laser gun. Pew pew.


	10. Elucidation

_'I hope they're enjoying their last day of freedom. What a waste of a morning_.'

The girl frowned down at the three prospective genin slumping around in various poses of disinterest and inaction. She felt like a creeper and had to wonder- did Kakashi ever do this to her? It seemed like him, to watch from a distance to observe what she did when she thought she was unseen. She had been curious about how accurate her knowledge of the relationship between Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke was. After all, it was entirely possible that she had changed things by changing Naruto. It didn't look like it.

From her tree-top position under a mild genjutsu, Aiko couldn't hear what little conversation was going on between the three genin, but she probably didn't need to.

Somewhat surprisingly, Naruto had arrived first. Her otouto had paced for a while, jogging around the training field to make sure that he really was the only one there before settling down into the grass about fifteen feet from the lacquered wooden bridge over the small stream that bisected their training ground. He must wake earlier than she'd thought, or maybe it was first day jitters that had him out of bed at six forty. It was cute how he actually knew Kakashi was chronically late, but still thought there was a possibility that he would show up on time for their test.

Sasuke was next to show up, only about two minutes later. Even from her perch Aiko could see that he went a little bug-eyed at seeing Naruto had beat him there. The brunette sullenly (or was it meant to be impassively?) leant against the side of the red bridge to wait.

Her otouto still didn't have much of an attention span- after the clear disappointment of seeing Sasuke instead of Sakura he was looking longingly off into the trees, but clearly restrained himself.

That girl he always wanted to impress pranced in on a veritable cloud of batted eyelashes and floating perfume five minutes before the time Kakashi had given them. Aiko tried not to sigh, rubbing her face with one hand while her silly otouto went ga-ga, guilelessly complimenting her dress (why hadn't anyone ever told her it was unsuitable?). The pink-haired girl paid him no mind, honing in on Sasuke in a way that definitely wasn't subtle. The poor boy cringed when she inched closer and closer.

Sakura probably wasn't a bad kid, aside from the obsessive parts of her personality and her quick temper. She was just so… so… well, so civilian that it hurt a little to look at her. Aiko had worked hard to distance herself from that lifestyle and perspective, so seeing a fellow kunoichi who hadn't yet caught on made it difficult to bite her tongue. That didn't even account for the fact that she heard from Naruto about every inane thing the froofy little chit did ad nauseaum.

Sasuke seemed sort of sensibly on guard around her. That was a good judgment on his behalf- despite her painfully innocuous presentation, there was something distinctly predatory about the girl. The core of an effective (if crazy) kunoichi was there.

That potential was probably more worrying than encouraging for her brunette teammate. She had designs on his flesh.

On time, Aiko flickered to the center of their little group, posing stretched-out on the ground so that when they noticed she was there, they would question just how long she had been behind them. Sasuke was the first to notice her. "Good morning, kittens," she said calmly. "Sleep well?"

Sakura was the only one who engaged in polite banter, eying her up in a distinctly unfriendly manner. _'This girl isn't nearly as subtle as she thinks she is._'

She gave a long stretch, feeling the muscles in her back and shoulders pull pleasantly, and yawned before flipping to her feet. "On your feet, Naruto. I'm not going to be sticking around for your test because I've got places to be, so let's make this quick. We're doing stretches. Sakura, tell me why."

"To prevent muscle injury later during a workout," the girl said briskly, glancing away from her precious love interest/victim for a moment to make eye contact. Aiko pretended she didn't hear the girl's stomach rumble. It was in good company- apparently none of them had eaten. They'd soon learn not to trust stupid orders. That was Kakashi's lesson to teach, however, not hers. She'd settle for starting their physical conditioning.

"Good. We're doing something called a sun salutation. Right now it's just a series of stretches, but eventually it'll be a meditation tool for you three. Sasuke, why is meditation a ninja skill?"

The three pre-teens copied her movements easily, sinking into the grass. "To increase available chakra by using spiritual energy," he replied, monotone and dignified despite being ass-up. Kid took himself too seriously. Sakura was torn between sucking her stomach in and staring, wide-eyed at the view. Aiko slid into downward-facing-dog and the three followed her. At least Naruto seemed solely focused on the salutation.

By the time Kakashi deigned to show up, she had the kids doing rounds of sit ups and push-ups. Sakura was red-faced and trembling, clearly on the verge of collapse. Sasuke was doing the best and still going strong. He was physically the strongest, it seemed. He had probably earned that top ranking. Even with his foxy advantage, Naruto got tired but easily recuperated one muscle group while he had switched to the other.

In the back of her mind, she was already making plans as to how to direct their training- she knew Kakashi well enough to be sure that he would think his 'hands-off' method would suffice, which left it up to her. It was in her benefit as well- now that he had a full-time team, Kakashi had pretty much been grounded from his real missions. That left her either stuck in the village for training or on loan to other Chuunin teams. That prospect didn't exactly make her shiver with delight.

Once the kittens were strong enough to take out, she'd get to do better missions again. Even fresh genin could be relatively safe on C missions with a Jounin and a Chuunin.

"Today you will be doing survival training," Kakashi announced with a grim theatricality. That man got far too much joy out of tormenting children. He set three store-bought bento on the ground. "I hope you're not hungry, because anyone who does poorly at today's training won't be getting lunch."

Aiko tried not to ruin the atmosphere by laughing at their faces. They could probably still hear her through the hand over her mouth, but they seemed momentarily broken by just how much of a dick their sensei was. _'Welcome to my world_.' She really loved Kakashi-sensei. He was just such an awkward, abrasive weirdo.

"This is your goal."

He held up two bells. Aiko eyed them with interest- this was the first time he'd pulled out the famous bells around her, and she hadn't had reason to 'know' of them before. He'd told her he would be testing them to see if they could work as a team, but no more details than that. She wasn't going to be doing all that much training with them- they weren't really on the same level, and she was more of a more experienced peer than a mentor.

"Your objective is to get these from me within one hour." He pulled an alarm clock out of nowhere and set it down on railing of the bridge. "Use any means necessary to get them. You have no chance to defeat me unless you come at me with intent to kill."

The bridge was totally silent except for the whisper of wind through the grass.

"But sensei!" Sakura protested. "There's only two bells!"

The two boys started, as if they hadn't noticed before she brought it to their attention. Kakashi chuckled in a way that Aiko knew was fake as all hell.

"That's right. I suppose that means one of you isn't going to pass, doesn't it?"

The three genin eyed each other, as if weighing up and dismissing each other. Sakura looked both inordinately self-satisfied beyond what her abilities merited and eager to get next to Sasuke. Naruto looked directly at the pink-haired girl with longing. Sasuke looked confident but anxious to get away from his peers, possibly by taking two bells.

"Begin now."

All three genin leapt away into the underbrush. "You're a mean man," she muttered quietly, trying not to smile. Her teacher shrugged, one hand slowly drifting towards his hip pouch. She hurried away, not wanting to interfere. They had to be able to do this on their own and she didn't want to be tempted to help.

* * *

Her bet that training ground ten would still be unoccupied at 10:40 am was a good one. _'Lazy bastards,' _she snickered. Despite the fact that it was assigned to team ten, there was no reason she couldn't use it when they weren't around. '_Poor Ino… Her team assignment is pretty shitty.'_ Aiko walked onto the wide, flat river that was the reason she preferred this area and took a moment to warm up again by running through katas on the water surface.

Team ten had been assembled on the basis of 'nepotism' and the fanciful imagining that children were basically smaller copies of their parents. It was frightfully unfair to all three kids. Chouji and Shikamaru were relatively compatible personalities, (though not necessarily in the way teammates should be in order to push each other) but Ino wanted so much more than either of them did. Despite her vain affectations and flippancy, she really was a serious little kunoichi. Her peers were ninja because their parents wanted them to be, not because of any drive.

Who cared that their family jutsu worked well together?

That kind of unimaginative thinking was more limiting than anything. Family jutsu were great and all, but making that the cornerstone of a ninja's arsenal was absolutely idiotic. A ninja's greatest advantage came through being unexpected, whether that be through literal stealth or through being unpredictable. When you had an entire clan of blonde people who used the same two jutsu and pretty much only those two jutsu… It was stupidly easy for one strategy to be used against multiple Yamanaka or Akimichi or whatever.

_'I'll never understand people_.'

Of course, they were trying to do something similar with her. The Hokage must look at her and see a pale version of the Bloody Habanera- with her reddish hair, relatively weak chakra chains, hand-me-down sealing knowledge passed down through Kakashi, and a water affinity, she had all the components to be a half-assed version of her mother.

'_Goody_', she grumbled. That wasn't exactly her life plan, but that didn't mean she was refusing to pick up what Kakashi wanted to pass on of Kushina's jutsu (he'd never said that was the case, of course. Officially, she had no idea who her parents were. That was fine by Aiko. She didn't know that she could pretend to think of Minato and Kushina as her parents- they were Naruto's parents, but she had never been their baby).

Sometimes all Kakashi had to pass on was a mess of vague descriptions and unhelpful hand movements- he couldn't perform many of Kushina's techniques, so he was really helping her re-invent them more than he was teaching them.

She had been working on chakra chains for months, and it was starting to seem like she was just not cut out for the large-scale stuff Kushina had been able to do. She could restrain a few human opponents, but Kushina had restrained the rampaging Nine-Tails on her death bed. Aiko was under no illusions that she had that kind of talent.

She did pretty well with much thinner constructions, however. They were more like chakra ribbons than anything. She used them to clean the apartment without getting off the couch.

At least she had something seriously bad ass going on with her water affinity. She'd mastered all the jutsu Kakashi could give her- but boring, predictable jutsu weren't the hallmark of water mastery. Water was flexible and adaptive- by infusing it with her chakra and enforcing her will upon it she could make it do almost anything. It was more like an extension of her body than a weapon- like what the chakra chains had been for Kushina.

Best of all… She was pretty sure she now understood the logic behind Kushina's ancestors declaring themselves the Whirlpool.

Mastery of water was like being a pagan god, a chaotic mass of incomprehensible fury that answered to nothing.

With arm movements that weren't strictly necessary but helped her concentration, Aiko was suddenly at the center of a pillar of water cycling furiously and sucking up everything from the waterbed. She gritted her teeth and **pushed**, forcing it higher and wider, surrounding herself with a maelstrom that would be impenetrable by any conventional means. The strain on her reserves was negligible by now once she had it moving, momentum and her position as the centripetal force made maintaining speed child's play.

On a river, she was a minor god. The Uzumaki of old in the land of Whirlpool must have been terrifying in their watery homes. Unfortunately, there was a good reason they'd lived there and not in Konoha.

Both arms swung down and spread out, forcing the tornado of water to widen at the bottom and explode, the water at the top funneling out to follow the path of the escaping fluid at the bottom and shoot in a straight line that cut all the way through the short brush and a few inches into the trees along the river bank. She let it go, slipping to the ground in a minor flood that flowed and dripped back into the river basin.

She could only use this kind of water play when she had a large amount of water available. That meant that if she couldn't fight on or near the water, she had to create it herself through conventional water jutsu, which burnt through her reserves painfully quickly.

The pre-teen sighed, using shunshin to perch on a low-hanging tree branch to avoid getting muddy. (For a Leaf nin, standing on a Hashirama tree was about as natural as using the ground).

"Time for the boring stuff." Her teacher had demonstrated the first non-water elemental technique he wanted her to learn just last week. It wasn't going well, in no small part because lightning wasn't even her secondary affinity. That was probably air. In any case, changing her elemental alignment to even use pure lightning chakra took far too long for it to be useful in a fight.

The first time, it had taken her nearly half an hour to figure it out. After that she improved exponentially, but the six minutes she now clocked before she could spit lightning was still far too long. Her teacher could whip out an attack in less than a second. As a Chuunin, she would have been delighted with a five second time to switch her alignment after using water, but ten seconds was the absolute maximum she was going to accept from herself.

The only thing to do…. Was to practice. Again and again. Spit water. Change the direction and qualities of chakra flow in her coils. Spit lightning. Check time- five minutes forty two seconds. Release the chakra so it instantly swirled back to its natural alignment. Use water bullets. Change elemental affinity. Spit lightning. Check time- five minutes thirty eight seconds.

She could fight boredom by varying water attacks, but she only had the one minor lightning jutsu, which didn't help matters.

After an hour of work she finally broke past the barrier she'd been struggling with and managed to clock under five minutes. Her reserves were half gone, which meant she had to keep working, despite meeting her goal for the day.

It was an incredibly dull and chakra-intensive process. The only good thing about it was that she could stop for the day when she had her coils down to about ten percent- the most she could lose without risking serious injury. The routine had nearly doubled her chakra capacity, so she knew she shouldn't complain. It was just mind-numbing, and her fingers tingled with static electricity for hours after she stopped each day.

"They passed."

Aiko shrieked and jerked backwards, losing her balance in surprise and falling. In her panic, she barely managed to right herself and land on her feet. "Someone needs to put a bell on you, you sneaky bastard." she grumbled. Pointedly, he jingled the two that were hanging from his hip pouch. "Doesn't count, they don't make any sound. I meant a bell you can't silence."

His expression indicated that there was no bell he couldn't silence.

"So they figured it out, or they actually got the bells?" Aiko changed the subject. He gave her a supremely condescending look. The girl flushed, feeling the heat creep over her cheeks. It was a dumb question. Still... "Hey, it could happen," she defended. "Weirder things have in the history of the Elemental Nations."

He leapt away, apparently changing his mind about talking to her. She tried to follow, but he lost her on the rooftops with a series of shunshin. Aiko gave a heavy sigh. "Jackass." She checked the time against the position of the sun. "At least I know someone who will tell me all about it."

* * *

Naruto fidgeted in his usual seat outside the Hokage's office (it was bolted to the ground and it had his name on it and everything, though it was usually intended for when he was waiting to be yelled at after a prank so that he didn't creatively interpret the order to wait for the Hokage), confused and mildly vexed by being summoned there suddenly. He had planned on visiting the next day anyway, so the old man really should have just waited after Naruto found Iruka-sensei to tell him about how his first day as a ninja had gone.

His perpetually sunny attitude wasn't really flagging, despite the inconvenience. At least he'd have a chance to tell the old man about how awesome he was and that he was a real ninja now!

He'd totally shown up that bastard Sasuke during the bell test. Sure, he had his fancy fire vomit and shuriken attached to wires and-

Naruto cut off that train of thought before he started to feel sad that he couldn't vomit fire. Maybe he'd get the bastard to teach him! It would be the least the bastard could do for him, after Naruto was the one who got them through the test by coming to the brilliant conclusion that the gray-haired bastard had been trying to trick them because he couldn't handle all three of them working together. Kakashi-sensei had even said he was surprised and proud of Naruto for figuring it out and convincing the other two to work together, even though their plan had failed horribly- and he was totally going to look up 'savant' when he got home so he knew what exactly he'd been praised for.

Whatever it was, even Sasuke-bastard had reluctantly agreed, even though he turned his face away and made a funny sound that was almost like a snicker so that Naruto couldn't see how much the admission pained him. Sakura-chan had looked a bit uncertain, but he'd convince her.

The blonde beamed, completely unaware that the Chuunin behind the mission desk was keeping a very close eye on him and scowling. When the door opened and Sarutobi Asuma walked out, cigarette attached to his mouth as firmly as the frown was, the Jounin certainly noticed.

He scowled at the younger man, who jumped a little and looked away. The kid was a bit hyper and undeniably naughty, but that was no excuse to treat him like a criminal. Asuma knew something about the weight of expectation and how much it sucked to be in the public eye, so he felt a little sympathy for the brat.

Plus… the kid was stuck with Hatake. If that wasn't reason to pity him, there was nothing in the world deserving of sympathy. He'd probably end up brainwashed into another masked, passive-aggressive weirdo, like his poor sister who trailed after Hatake like a puppy.

He'd actually checked for a genjutsu the first time he saw the little chit in a mask. His next thought was that it had been some bizarre challenge with Gai, who had recently acquired a little green copy. It appeared to be neither- just fervent admiration from a silly Chuunin for her teacher. If she were a little older, he might have worried. But despite his racy reading tastes, Hatake appeared to be on the straight and narrow. Asuma was glad to see his eccentric comrade seemed to be a genuinely good guy, even if he was cripplingly weird. There had been no small amount of whispered speculation when Hatake had started to walk around town with porn in one hand and a ten-year old girl cheerily hanging off the other arm.

Naruto rushed in past the tall man oblivious to both the interaction with the hostile Chuunin and the sympathy directed at him, bounding to his usual chair in one leap. "Hey, old man! You'll never guess what happened today!"

Despite the unpleasant conversation he'd just had and the unpleasant one he was about to have, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but smile. "What happened, Naruto-kun?"

He stood, shuffling over to his bookshelf for the information he had prepared for this day. He'd nearly put this meeting off in the excitement of the day- some idiot Chuunin had decided it was the optimal time to turn traitor and break into the archives. He'd have to find a replacement Academy teacher sometime before eight am tomorrow- that man was currently a bit broken in the interrogations center, delusionally claiming that Orochimaru had wanted a scroll. It was just baffling that he'd thought he could get past the ANBU, much less the Hokage himself. But Sarutobi had known that if he put this revelation off past the day he'd promised himself he'd tell Naruto, he would be likely to convince himself Naruto didn't need to know yet.

"My sensei had us do another test to prove we were real ninja like the ones on the stone and I was the one who figured it out because Aiko had said something yesterday that made me think- oh yeah, Aiko is kind of on my team! Isn't that awesome?"

The Sandaime opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get the words out fast enough.

"And Sakura-chan is on my team too! It's going to be great, I bet she'll like me now that we're real ninja! I wish the bastard wasn't on my team, though, can we do a trade? Or even just have the team be Sakura and me and Aiko, well Kakashi-sensei too I guess. He's so weird but he said I did good! Hey, old man, is he always late? And one more thing- is he as old as he looks because I think he might be on his last leg and any day now he's going to keel o-"

"Naruto-kun, you make an old man feel tired." Hiruzen slumped back into his chair, smiling gently. "I am glad to hear that you did well on your test and that you like your teammates. I'm sure you will grow to like Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-kun as well, given time to get to know them."

"So… That's a no to trading Sasuke away, then?"

"You're a smart boy, Naruto-kun." The Sandaime ran a wrinkled hand over the book he had retrieved. "I have something I need to talk to you about. Something very important. Now that you're a ninja, you need to know the truth."

* * *

The door slammed, uncharacteristically loud. Aiko frowned, looking up from where she'd been checking on cookies and shut the oven. Baking was probably a silly hobby for a ninja, but at least it was easier to hide than binge-drinking or sex addiction. "Naruto?" She pulled off her cupcake shaped mitts (a project she had made badly years ago in a sewing class) and set them on the counter. "Is everything alright?"

Her brother didn't say anything. The bedroom door shut a moment later, and a 'whumph' announced that he had just flopped onto his futon. She frowned, perplexed. That last time she'd seen him, he'd still been riding on the high of his victory. To hear him tell it, he'd singlehandedly figured out the purpose of the bell test and united his teammates against the evil geriatric Cyclops who'd poked his butt. His enthusiasm had only been slightly dampened by the fact that he couldn't find Iruka anywhere to share the news.

When the summons had come and Naruto took off to tell the Hokage about it, he'd been visibly excited at the prospect of retelling his story. Despite the fact that Aiko didn't hide her lack of enthusiasm for him (she was still sure he was an emotionally manipulative old bigot), Naruto quite liked the Hokage. What could have happened that would put him in an uncharacteristically bad mood?

She drifted out to the living room, picking up trash and bringing dirty tea cups to the sink. The books she had on loan from the library were spread over the floor, so she piled them on the table. The twins weren't the best of housekeepers, to be honest.

An unpleasant thought occurred. She'd stopped Mizuki from telling Naruto that he was a jinchuuriki… When had the Konoha council or whoever been planning to tell him? They couldn't very well send him out into the field not knowing, could they? It was already pretty absurd that they had let him get to the age of twelve without knowing that he held such a terrible burden.

How would Naruto take that knowledge? The way he was meant to find out had been especially traumatizing, but he'd gotten over it pretty quickly in the manga… Or had he? She had a hard time remembering details, but he might have repressed the emotional reaction and had a lowered self esteem. Then again, he was a different person then. She had changed him just by being here… and that might have affected the way he would cope with stressful knowledge.

Slowly, Aiko walked to the bedroom, pushing the door open slightly. "Naruto?"

He was on his side with his back to the door, face buried in a pillow. She sat beside him, gently running a hand across his shoulders. "Want to talk about it?"

Naruto gave a low keening whine, turning his face slightly so she could see his eyes were puffy and red. "Oh, otouto." She gathered him into a hug. "Tell me what's wrong?" She had to lean in close to hear his response, but what she heard made her frown. "Bullshit. You're not a monster. You're a twelve year old boy with more determination and heart than anyone else I know."

"You don't understand," he said dully, sitting up. "The Hokage explained why everyone hates me. I'm the Kyuubi."

"The villagers that hate you do so because they are petty, stupid, and short-sighted, not because of you. Besides, I think I'd notice if my brother were a three story tall manifestation of pure chakra," she said dryly, wishing she could just tell him she knew and didn't care to get it over with. But she needed him to say it. She had no plausible reason to know.

"We were born on the day it attacked Konoha." She nodded. She knew that full well. Naruto swallowed hard. "And the Yondaime didn't kill it. It couldn't be killed. Instead he sealed it. Into me."

She bit her lip for just a second. Naruto searched her face, clearly desperate for her reaction.

"That means it's in you, not that it's you. I don't care, and neither does anyone who matters. The Hokage clearly doesn't think there's anything wrong with you, does he?" At Naruto's expression, she continued, "If the civilian villagers know, so do all the older nin. Iruka likes you a lot. He knows you're not the Nine-tails. So does Sensei. Doesn't what they think matter? They're both a lot smarter and better informed than the grumpy old civilian man who sells cabbages and gives us the stink-eye every time we walk past. What the fuck would he know about ninja business?"

"I… I guess. You really don't care?" The real twelve-year old sat up, rubbing at an eye fiercely with the back of a hand. She gently stopped him, and made sure she was looking directly into his face and tried to put as much sincerity as possible into her face and voice.

"I don't care if you have a dozen demons sealed in you. You're as human as it gets, and anyone would sense would realize that keeping the Kyuubi locked up inside you makes you a hero."

He sniffled pathetically, trying to look aloof. "That's convenient. A theory about the world that makes you the only one with sense."

"That sounds about right," she said blankly, falling into their usual banter.

They cuddled in silence, just soaking in being together. Naruto gently tapped her shoulder. "Hey, Aiko." At her inquisitive look, he continued. "Were you making cookies when I came in?"

She sighed. "I'll get them." Her brother followed her to the kitchen trailing blankets. "Want to see if there's a good movie on?" she called. Naruto shrugged.

"Okay." The television flickered on, and the jumble of voices and sounds that followed indicated that he was flipping through channels. "Want to watch a sappy romance flick?" he called hopefully.

Aiko shuddered, making a face. "Agh, you're killing me." She sighed. "Only because I love you," she muttered bitterly. Her brother must have heard, because he set the tv on a channel she definitely never watched on her own. Naruto was just so very full of feelings. She slid the gooey, hot cookies off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack, putting four of them directly on a porcelain plate. Aiko then put her advanced ninja skills to good use balancing two glasses of milk and the hot cookies on her way into the living room. She stopped in her tracks as soon as she crossed the threshold. "Wow," she said dumbly. "You've gotten really fast about making pillow forts."

Her brother gave her an exaggerated, goofy smirk he had to have learned from Sasuke. It was adorable. His nose went up in the air and he snootily explained that "You can't watch a movie without a pillow fort."

She sat down next to him. "I thought that was just monster movies, and an excuse for you to snuggle when you got scared," she taunted.

Her brother flushed bright red. "Don't- don't say such ridiculous things! I'm a ninja. Ninja aren't scared of monster movies. No matter how big the lizards are."

"At least one ninja is," she sing-songed before she had to roll away to escape his hands when he lunged at her.

"Mean oneesan! Take that back!"

* * *

Omake: From the Time Skip (age 11-12)

"What's this?" One turquoise eye squinted at the vial in her slim fingers, tilting it slightly.

"Maybe if you shake it just a little more you'll find out." Aiko shot a glare at her sensei.

"Smartass."

"It's poison, Aiko-chan. You are looking at a soluble paralytic agent that you're going to be building up immunity to so you can infuse your adorable portable raincloud with it. Don't say I never did anything for you."

Aiko stared_. 'That's sweet, I guess.'_ She took a deep breath, wrapping her hand more delicately around the glass vial. "So… Do I just drink it?"

"You could, if you want to die of an over dose. Have you ever seen someone paralyzed have a seizure? It's interesting. That vial right there is about the right amount to be spread out in your usual sized raincloud about twenty times."

She jerked the bottle a little further away from her face.


	11. Chapter 11

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed, twisting her hands together cutely. _'He's so strong and cool!_' She blushed when her teacher slowly glanced at her and pretended to be very focused on getting an even coat of white paint down even though her shoulders were starting to ache from the work.

Across the yard, his eye twitched and Sasuke pretended not to hear his painfully pink and red peer, hefting another load of the wood he was carrying for a fence that had been destroyed by some academy students. Just looking at …that person… was difficult. He couldn't catch her in the corner of his eye without thinking that Valentine's Day had found something too _sickeningly_ _sweet_ and thrown it up. '_This mission is probably Naruto's fault,'_ he glowered, trying to ignite the other boy with the force of his irritation. No one else ever made as much trouble as Naruto did- he was a bad influence on the younger kids.

This mission was their third D-class, and it was even less satisfying than the others because the client was the village itself- Sasuke didn't mind hard work. He did it all the time in the uphill struggle against the decay of the nearly abandoned Uchiha complex. Work that served a purpose or helped someone was a logical and acceptable contribution to the good of the village. But work caused by fellow nin (or nin in training) was stupid. They shouldn't be creating busy work and wasting other people's time. He could be training instead and getting stronger, now that he actually had someone willing to help with skills beyond the stupid Academy standards.

With a clatter, the boards fell to the dirt in a pile behind where Naruto was hammering away. "Thanks, bastard," he said distractedly.

'_He's actually good at that_,' the brunette allowed grudgingly. Aloud, he just grunted and turned away. There was something galling about being relegated to hauling heavy things like an animal while his teammate did the skilled labor, but he soothed his ego by remembering that woodworking was hardly a ninja skill anyways and it didn't matter.

His male teammate's surprising usefulness was balanced out by how much Sakura was a complete waste of space. He carefully didn't look at her- giving her attention only seemed to feed her frightening delusions about him. Even now, she was working harder to keep her nails clean than she was at painting what the boys had finished fixing.

The older two teammates were no help. Kakashi was currently leaning against a tree in the yard reading with one hand in his pocket. He looked as though he might be asleep on his feet. Privately, Sasuke despaired that this was his teacher. Aiko, on the other hand, had mumbled something quickly about having paid her D-class dues and vanished. He couldn't entirely blame her, either.

The redhead rejoined the group as they walked back to the tower to report that they had finished the two D-ranks for that day. Naruto eyed her grumpily. "Where were you all day?"

She rolled her eyes. "Naruto, I'm a Chuunin grounded in-village until my team is fit for fieldwork," she reminded in an exasperated tone. "I'm on the gate duty roster now." Aiko made a face and affected a high, simpering voice. "Why hello there, are you lost little girl? Could I speak to someone about approving my papers?"

Sasuke very carefully did not react while the blond buffoon pointed and laughed and Sakura gave a huff of rather smug amusement. He would have been angry beyond belief if someone had condescended to him like that. Kakashi seemed to radiate cheer, however and casually ruffled her hair. "Aa, that's what you get for moving up in the ranks early."

She smacked at his hand, missing completely. The older man was already fifteen feet away from the group, looking back at them. "Come come, do you want to keep the Hokage waiting?"

That bit of hypocrisy made the three genin see red. Aiko was used to it.

* * *

In a separate line from her team, Aiko handed over her yellow bordered scroll with a smile and a bow. Maybe if she was lucky, she wouldn't spend two weeks in a row on the Chuunin gate roster. It was only a thirty hour time commitment per week to give nin plenty of time to train, but it was still annoying. The room was a comforting bustle of polite conversation, rustling papers and the gentle trickling sounds coming from the tiny fountain separating the nin and civilian sides of the room.

"Old man, I'm tired of these crappy missions!" Naruto burst.

All other noise but the fountain stopped. She slowly turned her head, hoping against hope that she'd been mistaken and that loud voice had been someone else. '_No such luck.'_

The rest of the room was a tableau of unsurprised but displeased expressions. Kakashi slowly put one hand to his forehead. "Thank you, Naruto, for screaming at the Hokage when he walked past the missions room. Thank you so very much," he mumbled lowly. Though he'd pitched it quietly, the blonde should have heard. Aiko did from ten feet away, after all.

The Hokage just looked amused. "Well, Naruto, you're a genin," he began.

"I don't care what my stupid rank is, we're ninja! We should have better missions than weeding and babysitting. And don't try to tell me those are essential skills for infiltration or adulthood. That's a lie. They're just busywork to shut up fat, lazy civilians who don't want to do their own chores."

The thick-set man in silk at the front of the line filing mission requests turned an interesting shade of purple.

Sakura had gone from an embarrassed pink flush to hiding her face in her hands and eventually ended up bright red and shaking with rage. "Naruto," she growled warningly. The damage was done, however. Some of the curious civilians gave her a look. Sasuke, on the other hand, had used the substitution jutsu on a potted plant so that no one realized he came in with Naruto. Aiko spotted him leaning against a wall and pretending to be deaf on the other side of the room.

"Kakashi-kun, do you think your team is ready for a C-rank mission?" The Hokage turned to the Jounin to make his point.

The man shrugged. "Do you have one an idiot can do? Between the three of them…" Aiko was just glad she wasn't included in that count. The leaves of the Sasuke-plant standing next to Naruto gently swayed, as if in agreement.

"Quite right," the Sandaime muttered, raising one eyebrow at the way Naruto was straining to attack his teacher and being prevented by the hand on his head holding him at arm's length. "All right. I think I have a C-rank mission you should be able to do. Come back tomorrow morning to meet your client, be prepared for a long escort mission. Would you send the client from Wave Country a message? I believe I had originally decided that mission would be given to Gai's squad when they get back in a few days, but no matter." He puffed on his pipe while the secretary he'd addressed made a note. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm with what was obviously painful force and dragged him bodily out of the building, where she proceeded to tear him a new asshole for embarrassing his team like that in front of the village leader and a room of their superiors and prospective clients. Aiko sighed, not feeling up to interfering. She'd hoped to avoid this mission. Granted, she didn't actually know that the client was Tazuna, but how many missions to Wave country would there be at any given point in time?

* * *

_'Just one, apparently'_, Aiko noted tiredly the next morning. It wasn't luck so much as paranoia that had caused her to pack especially well for this mission, but she took a moment to be thankful nonetheless.

Knowing as she did that this mission would be long- months longer than it was billed as- she'd brought more than usual, and had splurged on two of those fucking expensive storage scrolls for extra weapons and high-calorie prepackaged food (it wasn't a good idea to mix comestibles with anything else). The rest of the space in her pack was filled with four changes of clothes (an indulgence her teacher would laugh at if he saw it at the gate, but he'd be jealous later when he was wearing the same nasty pants for a month), the waxes and oils to care for her weapons, boots and gloves, and the notebook she was currently working on filling. Her notebooks were messy indulgences, filled with half-remembered stories in English, a diary, and doodles of people in pretty clothes.

"I can't believe this is the ninja I hired," the old man mumbled rebelliously. "I paid good money. The short one looks like a total idiot." The two gate guards didn't say anything, but one of them rolled his eyes and stamped the foreigner's papers with an efficiency that got the group moving as quickly as possible. Naruto, on the other hand, turned an ugly red and clenched his fists. He was a second away from opening his mouth when his sister spoke up.

Aiko gave their client an impassive stare, tilting her head slightly to catch his eye. "Looks can be deceptive. For example, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were an unemployed drunk." Sasuke gave one of those funny restrained twitches that seemed to mean he was surprised (or amused, or hell, for all she knew it meant that he was hungry. He was a hard kid to read sometimes).

"Now now, children." Kakashi clamped one hand firmly down on Naruto's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Behave. And don't worry, Tazuna-san. They may be a genin team, but the redhead there is a Chuunin, and I am an elite Jounin of this village. You are in good hands."

Tazuna eyed the group dubiously, but let the matter drop.

Now that she was the one observing genin chomping at the bit to go faster than a civilian's pace on their first trip outside, Aiko had to fight the urge to smile. No wonder Kakashi treated them like a pile of naughty puppies. They had calmed down a bit into a routine characterized by occasional bursts of violence or excitement about seeing a plant or animal that they had learned about in lessons but never seen in real life by the third day when Aiko noticed the glint of sunlight off a puddle in the center of the road.

She winced and exchanged a look with Kakashi. His amused expression indicated that yes, she really did look that ridiculous when she practiced hiding-in-the-water in Konoha. He flashed two subtle handsigns telling her to wait.

The genin hadn't noticed a thing, which was a little embarrassing. She slowly drifted to the front of the group with them, turning only when the Chuunin burst from their hiding spot and viciously took down a log cloaked in genjutsu flesh before turning to attack their client. Sakura had the presence of mind to dash between the nin and Tazuna –good girl—but Naruto seemed frozen when Aiko and Sasuke moved to the attacking Chuunin in a burst of motion. '_Holy hell, he's fast for an academy fresh genin,_' she noted. Fast or not, he didn't have the killer instinct to actually take down his opponent on the first blow, so after Aiko ducked under the spiked chain and disemboweled her opponent with a kunai she flicked the resulting mess off her hand and forearm in one sharp movement and moved to intercept the second enemy Chuunin. He made a yowling sound of outrage, quickly cut off by the blow Kakashi delivered to the back of his neck. The surviving nin crumpled at his feet.

"Good job, minions." Kakashi turned a pleasant smile to their client. "Tazuna-san, I believe we need to have a talk about lying to foreign military powers and endangering children. I stayed back to see who the target was- it could have been a case of ninja attacking ninja. But they moved for you after they had eliminated the greatest threat."

Aiko spat up a stream of clear, clean water to rinse her hands while the adults talked (really, it was more 'while Kakashi intimidated the living hell out of that idiot'). Sakura, bless her simple soul, had the presence of mind to make an 'ew' face. The other kids hadn't managed to slip back into routine yet, but they were quietly listening to Tazuna's sob story of an oppressed nation living under the thumb of a despotic moron. Sasuke was almost shaking with excitement and adrenaline. Away from the rest of the group, looking stunned, Naruto was standing silent in a way that was totally unlike his usual behavior. Aiko frowned at how forlorn he looked.

"Are you alright, Scaredy-cat?" Sasuke gave an uncharacteristically sassy smirk along with the jab.

'_Well, that'll perk him up_.' Aiko shook her head and took a moment to secure their surviving prisoner with wire. They were probably going to kill him, but Kakashi might want to get some information first. '_Demon brother my ass.'_ She checked his hands again- making sure he couldn't move or make handsigns.

The conversation drew her full attention again once Naruto started talking. "We took this mission! We can't go back on our word."

Sakura looked uncertain, eyes flicking between her companions. Kakashi just hmm'd.

"Is everyone alright with that?"

_'Is it really a choice? We could abandon him and back since he lied, and I would if we weren't toting bright-eyed, idealistic Academy baby genin. They'd figure out that we'd be leaving him to die. Harsh lesson for their first mission out, I think.'_ When they looked at her, she reluctantly agreed. "I'll be fine with going on." Sakura agreed last, a faintly determined smile flickering over her features. For the first time Aiko had noticed, Sasuke looked at the chit with something resembling approval.

"Alright," Kakashi agreed easily. "You three set up camp. Aiko, supervise. I'm going to have a talk with our friend here for information." She didn't envy the 'Demon brother'. Even if he shared information, he wasn't going to be let go.

* * *

Even at the civilian pace, there was less than a day of walking left until they crossed the border to Wave. Aiko felt twitchy all day—she knew that Zabuza was out there somewhere. Waiting around for an A-class missing nin to attack a genin team was a terrible, rotten no-good idea, but she didn't have any other options. Well, she could pretend to have a spontaneous vision and turn around, but it would be more likely that her team would think she was crazy. '_This whole mission is stupid. If finishing that bridge is so important, what the hell was this guy doing in an entirely different country in the first place?'_

"Tazuna-san. Why were you so far away from Wave country if you're hurrying to finish that bridge?"

The old man's blood shot eyes slid over to her for a second before focusing back on his long-empty flask. "I was meeting with someone who was supposed to help." His expression twisted into something bitter. "Coward changed his mind, and left me high and dry in the middle of Fire country. At that point, it was too risky to try to go home alone, so I asked for an escort. After I made it to Konoha, I realized it would be a good idea to have protection while I actually worked. I'm a very important man, after all!" He puffed out his chest.

"Ah." '_This man is an idiot.'_ What little she caught of her teacher's carefully blank expression indicated that he might be having similar thoughts. Naruto gave a twitch and frowned slightly, looking around the underbrush. They were still in a lightly wooded area, but that would be ending soon. Shadows were just starting to peer over the horizon, but tonight they were going to walk past nightfall since they were so close to their destination. She might have relaxed if she wasn't so damn sure that they'd be getting attacked at any minute.

That suspicion was confirmed when Naruto flung a brace of kunai into a bush and bounded after them, shouting. Sakura's hand was suddenly boasting four kunai for claws and Sasuke balanced a shuriken between two fingers. Aiko herself slipped into the calm state of mind that characterized her fights.

"Just a bunny rabbit…" Naruto held the poor shaking animal up, cuddling it apologetically.

Sakura flushed. "You idiot! You got us all worked up over a rabbit?" Sasuke slumped in disappointment before giving the rabbit an odd look.

"He's right, someone is here," Aiko supplied. "That isn't a native animal."

As she spoke, an unnatural fog crept around her ankles, pulling gently into swirling eddies. It was a jutsu that she personally was very familiar with… and the size of it indicated that there was a decent source of water nearby. The three genin rustled uncomfortably as their vision was blocked with shocking speed and ease, going on the alert. Kakashi took up point, closer to the group than he usually favored. "Get down!"

Aiko didn't sense the large blade hurtling through the air at all, but she had already reflexively responded to her sensei's commanding tone. Sakura had been the one to drag their client down- she had a decent head on her shoulders, that one.

'_Fuck, I'm glad sensei is here. I __**knew**__ he would do that and I still had no idea it was hurtling towards us.'_

She kept her focus on attempting to discern the enemy's position without her eyes. Zabuza must have been using some sort of distortion genjutsu, because pin-pointing his location from his voice was impossible. Instead, she tried to resort to a crude chakra sense- it didn't help in this case. His presence was monstrous- all she could tell was that he was too close, he was far too close and there was no way she could fight him on even terms.

'_But ninja don't fight on even terms. Should I get rid of this fog? I could turn it into puddles or even evaporate it, given a moment, but he may react strongly to losing what he sees as a tactical advantage. Is it to my benefit to try to let this play out by formula? And even worse, I can't sense Haku at all, although I'm certain he's lurking about. Is Zabuza obscuring his signature, or is he just that good?_'

The gravelly voice that she had never heard before but knew intimately had moved on to using scare tactics on the group—making the genin sharply aware that to him, they were just a cluster of targets. The calm cadence of his voice was assisted by a generous helping of KI. While Kakashi flashed away into the fog and began to clash steel, the three genin bristled with drawn weapons. Aiko merely stood in the deceptively casual 'waiting' stance of her modified taijutsu, ready for an attack on their group. She wasn't disappointed.

With a dark grin, a figure that she knew was probably a water clone was behind Naruto. She knew a clone could kill just as thoroughly as the real deal, so she felt no compunction about spitting a spray of water bullets at the figure. It dodged easily- but into the path of Kakashi's water clone. A third clone took him out and what turned out to be the real Kakashi slashed that clone into nothingness. Her head hurt from trying to keep track but her teacher seemed to know exactly what was going on when he spun to intercept their opponent from a different direction. After a brief exchange, the tall figure faded back into the mist.

"Aiko! Get rid of the mist."

_'Well, if the decision is out my hands…'_ Bringing her hands together so that her fingertips touched, she closed her eyes for just a second to infuse the mist with her own chakra—and tried not to jump or dodge at the sudden murderous presence behind her, trusting that her sensei would take care of it. Sure enough, when she opened her eyes a millisecond later and took a deep breath in, she felt the light splash of a remarkably efficient water clone dash across her back and sensed her instructor taking off immediately after where he must have sensed the real Zabuza. With smooth efficiency she neutralized the lingering chakra that Zabuza had apparently not been maintaining –'_makes sense, Kakashi is keeping him busy'_ – and exhaled a burst that forced the mist to condense and spray out in the same move. It fell harmlessly to the ground, but she maintained her grip on it so that he didn't use the now-soaked ground to his advantage.

"I didn't know that Kakashi of the Sharingan eye was babysitting brats nowadays," the now-visible man taunted, casually slinging his enormous sword over his shoulder. Kakashi merely shrugged, watching the other man warily. Before now, Aiko had thought her sensei was tall. But this guy… She took advantage of her first opportunity to study him—Zabuza of the Bloody Mist was fucking scary looking. He was a solid 7 feet tall and had the muscle of a linebacker coupled with a more than slightly sinister grin. As the whole package was wrapped up in pointlessly eccentric clothing mostly consisting of bandages, he didn't look like an opponent she would want to fight herself.

'_They just don't make them like that in Konoha_.'

"Like what you see, brat," the man she'd been staring at growled, boasting a shit-your-pants-terrifying grin with – yes, those teeth were actually pointed.

She looked at his eyes for the first time. "No," Aiko admitted honestly. "I suspect you're a crazy person and a really bad dresser to boot."

"Moving on," her teacher muttered as he swung into action again, ignoring the water clone that she'd been staring at for a moment while he intercepted the real assassin's swing with that scary ass sword. The fight seemed to be nearly one-sided and her teacher easily drove the enormous man backwards, away from the client and genin. It took a long moment for her to realize why that observation made her feel uncomfortable, but by that point the trap was set. The instant her teacher stepped foot onto the lake surface, she remembered. _'Oh, crap. The water prison.'_

The horror and self-recrimination on her teacher's face when he realized what she had was something she'd never seen before. It was a stupid mistake to force him towards water, born out of arrogance in what seemed to be an easy fight and his desire to keep the three 12 year olds out of the fight.

"Sakura, protect the client. Naruto, Sasuke, disrupt that water clone. He can't make another one and he can't move without letting go of sensei," she barked, flipping through a quick series of handsigns." It didn't even occur to her to look to see if the genin obeyed.

"No!" Kakashi roared. "It's over, this fight is lost. You four need to get out of here. He can't go far from here while he's holding me."

"I don't abandon comrades!" Naruto shouted. The determined looks on Sasuke and Sakura's faces seemed to agree. Aiko couldn't help but smirk lopsidedly, hearing some sort of scuffle between the boys and the one water clone left to harass them. _'I've got a much better idea, sensei dearest.'_

"Sorry sensei. You're just going to have to deal with the embarrassment of being rescued by your students." She released her attack into the water ten feet away from Zabuza, who had been preparing to dodge as best as he could without losing his grip on the water prison. The look of confounded surprise on his normally sinister face was downright comical when he realized she'd just electrocuted the entire lake, her teacher included before dropping into convulsions would have fueled a fit of giggles in another situation. "Sorry about that too," she muttered, leaping onto the water the instant that the electrical current had died down to grab both men. _'I didn't want to warn Zabuza, so I couldn't really say anything.'_

As he was still stunned from her stupidly logical attack – really, why was it so surprising that she would use the one enormous weakness of his surroundings against him? – it was easy to hit the pressure point on the back of Zabuza's neck and put him out of commission temporarily before changing her grip to his arm so that she could pull both him and her ailing teacher out of the lake before they drowned.

When her teacher managed to pry his dark eye open, he seemed to be glaring reproachfully at her. "You're a horrible child," he wheezed, quickly recovering. It had been a relatively weak charge, meant more to stun than damage. She gave a pleasant smile and let him fall to the ground with a wet slop beside the unconscious criminal.

"You're welcome, sensei. I've gotten too fond of you to lose you now to a fashion disaster like that." Though he couldn't be fully recovered, her teacher regained his feet and looked his usual self except for the way he was leaning on her by the time she'd finished the sentence.

"Be on guard," she said quietly, more to the kids than her sensei. If she could sense Haku, no doubt he did as well. Kakashi may have been too tired to do so in the original fight, but this hadn't descended into a Sharingan-aided pissing match, so his chakra reserves should be fine. "There's someone else nearby—an accomplice of his no doubt." Aiko wouldn't have sensed him if Zabuza hadn't just slid off the map with his trip into sleepyland and if she hadn't known to keep looking for a second partner, but now that she had sensed Haku it was fair game to say something about that. Sasuke (who looked uncannily like a soaked and angry housecat) bristled, all sharp angles and tense muscles ready to explode. He didn't disappoint- when the senbon attack flew to their incapacitated enemy he deflected all but one with a kunai, scanning for the interloper. The lone senbon Sasuke wasn't fast enough to get planted itself into the side of Zabuza's neck. Naruto turned slightly green.

A figure about Sakura's proportions appeared in a flash of shunshin, crouched fifteen feet away. "My apologies. I have been hunting that man for quite a while. I will take his body back to the village for identification now."

"Bull," Aiko spat, using her free arm to force him to dodge a kunai. "That's no hunter-nin." Though all four kids were in ready stances and Haku instantly tensed for a fight, the next thing Aiko noted- well, she noted two things at once, really. The first was that no one was leaning on her anymore, and the second was that her teacher was standing behind the fake hunter-nin. The altercation was brutally short. The boy went down with one blow and no chance to fight back.

'_Annnnd that's why he is an elite Jounin and I get to guard the gates from foreign merchants.'_

"You know, I'm starting to think that someone wants you dead," Sasuke said dryly, giving their quivering client a scathing look.

"We may be out of our league," Sakura added nervously, creeping up and gently toeing the fallen boy, eventually taking off his mask after she got a 'go-ahead' nod from her sensei. She sucked in a breath. Whether that was from surprise, jealousy, or something else entirely was hard to say.

"Wow, she's prettier than Sakura-chan," Naruto breathed. Said girl flushed an unbecoming shade and clenched a fist. Aiko put a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder to hold her back from pummeling the idiot.

"Easy there. Naruto, that was rude. Sensei, are we going to continue? I mean, it was one thing to continue when we knew we were up against someone willing to hire two Chuunin missing nin. But this is the second group they've sent, and this guy is no Chuunin." She gestured carelessly at Zabuza. "Besides, isn't this Momochi Zabuza? I don't know about the kid, but there is definitely a bounty on this one and he probably has information about what is going on in Mist."

"You're looking at this the wrong way." Kakashi easily knelt to check for a pulse… and found none. Aiko tried not to shudder, being relatively certain that Haku had played his temporary death trick, but she had no evidence she could point to that indicated the man was still alive.

Kakashi was probably going to burn the bodies- standard procedure. If the man was still alive… It didn't bear thinking too much about.

"This Gato has no reason to know that his team has failed. The fact that we encountered four missing nin from the same village implies they were working as a team and Zabuza only stepped in when he confirmed the Chuunin failed. Gato probably won't have more missing nin on hire- he'd have no need for more than a Jounin and three Chuunin to run errands. Anyone else he has on staff will likely be just civilian thugs."

"Therefore, the mission is within our abilities," Sakura concluded easily, sounding relieved. "But sensei, doesn't that mean Tazuna-san is safe now?"

Sasuke gave her a condescending look. "Even untrained thugs could be enough to prevent the bridge from being built." The girl looked embarrassed and twisted her fingers together.

"So we could go with him and either just keep him safe or take care of the root of the problem. If Gato is dead, he won't be sending anyone else after our client." Aiko pointed out casually. Their teacher remained silent, clearly letting them work through the problem on their own. Tazuna, on the other hand, was staring at the four children with open-mouthed horror. _'What, never seen pre-teens blink off a few life-or-death battles in a day?' _The thought was a bit silly. She knew full-well that the genin weren't as unaffected as they looked.

Naruto scratched his nose. "So, what are we going to do with her?" He pointed with his customary lack of finesse at Haku. There was a moment of awkward silence where everyone but him seemed to come to the same conclusion.

Sasuke shifted his weight, not quite managing to look at Haku. "We can't take them with us, and we can't let them recuperate and attack us again." He didn't seem able to conclude the statement, but Sakura turned green in a way that conveyed she knew what had to be done as well.

"But she's helpless!" Naruto protested indignantly. "We can't just kill her there while she's knocked out."

"Naruto, being a ninja means doing some unpleasant things. That person is far from helpless." Kakashi put uncharacteristic seriousness into his voice. "Any one of the ninja we encountered today would have killed you without a second thought. That's part of our world."

"But!"

"Stop. Now." The boy fell silent, defeated. "If you can't bear to watch, then you can start hiding the signs that there was a fight here. That goes for you two as well. Aiko, take care of the bodies. I'm going to run a perimeter check." With that, he gave them all a considering look and flashed out of sight with more urgency than his tone had indicated.

"You can't just.."

Aiko met her brother's whisper with a calm, firm gaze. "Don't look." She drew a kunai into her left hand.

* * *

Omake from time skip

Aiko ignored the irritating raindrops against her bare upper arms, parrying a blow from her opponent's short blade. Short or not, it was long enough to be a big pain when all she had were stumpy little kunai.

'_I'm going to make sensei teach me how to use a sword soon. This shit gets really old.'_

Her lips thinned as she pressed them together, feeling the wind whistle through her short hair when she spun under the man's guard in a maneuver that planted one of her feet with her heel touching his sandaled toes for just a moment before she whipped away to position herself behind him and savagely jab at his unprotected kidney with the handle of her kunai.

An ugly sound escaped through his teeth, and she could see that the cloud nin's face was strangely red under his long curly hair when he turned to face her and pushed her backwards with a rib-cracking kick.

She hit the dirt, rolling a few times before she regained her feet.

"Tough luck, kid," he drawled, looking genuinely sympathetic at the game-changing injury. Not sympathetic enough to let her live, though. Being a missing nin was tough. He couldn't indulge sympathy for a child who had been sent to take him in for his bounty. If he let her live, the next team would be full of kids ordered to take advantage of the supposed weakness.

Aiko put one hand to her ribs, trying not to gasp. "Funny, that's what I was about to say to you." As her chakra control flickered, so did the artificial rain. The man clearly noticed—he paled and leapt backwards, away from her and tried to escape from the reach of her jutsu. She followed at an easy lope that didn't bother her breathing too much, knowing there was no need for speed. His face had been exposed to her contact poison for at least two minutes. The increased circulation from the delaying fight and his frantic run would spread her poison all the quicker once it made it into his veins.

Surely enough, she found him collapsed and panting weakly. He attempted to glare at her through eyelids that fluttered and flirted with unconsciousness. "Bitch," he managed to gasp. She nodded in agreement.

Her teacher found her some time after. Aiko was perched precariously on a rock outcropping, keeping one eye on the man who was immobilized by her paralytic.

"Lazing about, I see," Kakashi called out, idly inspecting her catch. He had taken the more difficult opponent, of course. The head was already sealed up, the rest ashes in the wind.

"I almost got my butt kicked," she offered up as he drew closer. "I think I have a broken rib."

"Let me see."

The hint of concern in her teacher's voice made her smile, even as he prodded at her torso with two warm fingers in a way that fucking hurt.


	12. Chapter 12

This chapter is short, but it had to be. It wraps up the Wave arc and works to make some important contrasts visible. The next chapter should be up pretty soon as well.

* * *

It hurt, a little, but she understood. Naruto wasn't like other ninja. He didn't understand yet that not everyone could shine so hard it hurt the eyes.

Her otouto hadn't so much as looked at her since she had slit Haku's throat (she didn't have to, but it was kinder than risking him waking up on fire) and hacked off Zabuza's head for storage in one of her scrolls. He'd impassively accepted a fourth of the extra weapons she had to unseal to make room and pretended not to smell the smoke from their impromptu cremation.

Sakura hadn't looked at the disposal either, but she'd gone about her business with efficient impassivity (or what passed for it in that girl, anyways).

Sasuke had been the surprise. He had watched the two bodies burn with something heavy behind his gaze, maintaining an almost respectful silence until the ash began to curl away on the breeze. If she hadn't had her foreknowledge, never once would Aiko have considered that the serious little boy in front of her would ever leave his village for power. He seemed the picture-perfect baby genin. His attitude was a little gruff and he had a decided anti-social bent, but those were hardly debilitating flaws in a shinobi.

_'Maybe Orochimaru fucks him up more than I thought.'_

When Kakashi had returned, he had gathered up the genin like wayward ducklings and shooed the entire train to Tazuna's house, the old man sullenly silent and shying away from the children he appeared to be unnerved by. His daughter had clucked when she saw him filthy and bedraggled, stubbornly clinging to the long-empty flask. He endured her fluttering about with a reluctantly tender expression that actually made Aiko recant some of her nastier thoughts about the old man so far.

While the old man settled in, Kakashi took the three genin on a walk around the town. Aiko killed time exploring the house and setting up traps on the perimeter while Tsunami's moon-faced idiot child glared at her out his window.

While she was the only ninja present, he had treated her to a long and boring monologue about how Gato was too powerful to fight, abandon ye all hope, yadda yadda yadda. Before he had finally burst into a fit of melodramatic tears and stormed away she was on the verge of scaring him into leaving her alone. After all, no one who had met the little shit would ever blame her.

Except perhaps her sensei, she reminded herself when she saw his stern mien upon return. For all that he could seem to turn his humanity off like a light switch when it suited him, he wouldn't tolerate her pinning the whiner to the wall with senbon.

From what the kids mentioned when they got back, Kakashi had used the trip as an exercise to test their situational awareness and ability to gauge a location. Even three thick-headed genin could apparently tell that Wave was desperately poor, painfully soggy, and filled with nervous people. To hear Sakura tell it, doors practically slammed in a chorus line as the group walked down trash-heaped street dotted with dull eyed beggars with distended bellies and gnarled, broken hands.

It was a familiar tactic. Yakuza and their ilk often mutilated dissenters instead of killing them. Eliminating enemies was scary, but leaving them around tends to leave a lingering reminder of dominance.

The familiarity was a bit soothing. It reinforced the theory that Gato had connections to organized crime. Predictability in enemies was good.

The girls had been given a room together and the three males were packed like sardines into the other room. The size of the house made it clear that Wave or at least Tazuna's family had not always been so poor—five bedroom homes were not common, even if the room that the girls were squeezed into was pitifully small. Naruto drew the best straw and ended up getting left off the watch schedule for the night, along with their amused and unsympathetic sensei.

Sakura had the first shift, trudging reluctantly out into the chill night air. Aiko managed to sleep well for almost three hours until the pink-haired girl crawled into bed and started her insufferable rustling.

Sharing a room wasn't new for Aiko, but sharing it with anyone other than her brother or her teacher was. She was more than used to the soft snuffling noises Naruto made in his sleep, and Kakashi's occasional grunts didn't bother her anymore. As it turned out, Sakura was a fidgety, restless sleeper, prone to sighing heavily, giving little whines into her pillow and burrowing around under the blankets. At one point Aiko caught her girl bent nearly in half backwards, pawing at her pillow with her toes curled nearly to her back. It was simultaneously adorable and annoying as all hell.

Irritated and unable to get more than a few hours of sleep, the lone chuunin went for a run around the perimeter instead, at one point alarming Sasuke who was on watch duty. "Can't sleep," she offered a little sheepishly, handing back the shuriken that he'd launched in surprise. "Sakura-san moves around a lot in her sleep."

"Hn." The boy tucked his weapon away. "When is your watch?"

"I'll just take over now." She sighed, giving a stretch. "One of us may as well get some sleep."

He raised one eyebrow in lieu of saying 'That's not likely.' Instead, he said shortly that "I can't sleep either."

She nodded in understanding. "As hypocritical as this is, you'll get used to it. I used to hate sharing a room with Sensei." She made a face. "It's best to let him wake up first. If you have to wake him up, do it from another room and prepared to dodge."

"That knowledge will make sleeping with him so much easier," came the dry reply.

Aiko fought down both a smile and the automatic innuendo that came to mind.

'_He's more talkative when he's sleep-deprived_.'

She didn't want to provoke him by making it clear she had noticed his more open behavior. When he wasn't doing his best to look the part of the hardened stoic, it was easy to see why Sakura and her giggly, dreamy ilk were drawn to him like butterflies to flowers. Even at twelve, he had a dark beauty that would mature into the category of 'total hunk' in a few years. Coupled with his obvious intelligence and talent, the boy had serious appeal. Poor thing. It was obvious he didn't want the attention.

"Did you sleep at all," she asked instead. He nodded tersely and turned his head slightly in a way that told he was visually scanning the area for threats, even though his eyes blended into the darkness so that she couldn't see where he was looking.

'_Apparently conversation time is over.'_

"It's almost dawn." She gave a stretch, fingers linked together. "Think it would be rude to poke around in search of breakfast?"

The look she got in reply was positively disdainful. She held her hands up. "Okay, fine. I'll stay out of Tsunami-san's kitchen."

"Barbarian." His lips tugged into a lopsided smirk. She made a theatrical hurt expression that he could probably spot even under her black half mask and flitted away.

When everyone was up and had been fed (and that annoying little shit whose name she hadn't bothered to remember had scurried away to sulk) the civilians cleared out of the room to get ready for the day while the nin talked. Looking indolent and bored, Kakashi gave out his orders. "Sasuke, you're in charge while I'm gone. I want you three to accompany Tazuna to the bridge. Aiko and I will be investigating and possibly visiting this 'Gato' person. If all goes well, there won't be a threat to Tazuna-san's person by the end of the day. I don't anticipate an attack at the bridge, since we'll be going to the source. Keep an eye open and run a perimeter. If you don't see us before dark, get Tazuna home."

"Hai." Sasuke seemed to be studying his new subordinates. The blonde was giving him a decidedly unfriendly stare, and Sakura had a dopey grin planted on her features.

Aiko couldn't blame him for whatever doubts he was probably having, no matter how much she loved her otouto.

Their teacher chuckled. "You three will do fine. Stick together and use your heads. A genin team is more than a match for anything a civilian can throw at you." Naruto stopped looking irritated with Sasuke long enough to beam proudly. He wasn't the dead-last her foreknowledge had painted him as, but Naruto was still pretty starved for genuine praise.

After the groups separated, Aiko looked wordlessly to her teacher for further orders from her perch on a rooftop. He didn't disappoint. "Two options. Investigate under henge by asking civilians, or remain unseen to address the problem directly. What's best for this situation and why."

"No point in trying the henge. The civilians are scared," she said immediately, not even looking at the pitiful display below. "We are likely to either get inaccurate information or risk someone telling Gato that people are asking about him the day after a group of ninja roll into town. Granted, he almost certainly doesn't know that Zabuza and his team have failed, but he will be nervous by now and will be listening to gossip. He'll have someone report that Tazuna is working on the bridge. Our best option is to locate him ourselves and take him out quietly, if that is our directive."

Her teacher hmm'd noncommittally. "Why do you think we're going to take him out?"

"It's within the parameters of our mission to ensure Tazuna's protection while he completes the construction project. If the source of the conflict is gone, he's in no danger." She frowned and added, "Assuming, of course, that no one is waiting to pick up the reins of the operation where he let off. If Gato is really involved in drug-running and a yakuza-like group of thugs, we might have to eliminate more than just the leadership."

"You're forgetting something."

Aiko felt her forehead crease. '_What… Oh._' "To the victor go the spoils," she added a little sheepishly. "He'll have shipping contracts. We should bring those back to Konoha and let administration figure out what to do with them. If we have them, no one else can step in and do the same thing to Wave until they've sorted through all the mess we're going to leave."

"The council can send someone to clean up anyone who might cause trouble in future. Good girl. You don't have any subtle assassination jutsu, do you?"

She shook her head and he frowned. "Remind me to teach you how to stop a heart. I'll be going in alone, then, and you can take the back as a scout."

It was pitifully easy to locate Gato's headquarters. It was isolated outside of the town and ostentatious to a degree that was laughable. He seemed to have tried to construct a traditional home like the Hyuuga had, but failed to capture the minimalistic beauty someone raised as nobility would prefer. He clearly had more money than sense.

Gato did have a fair few mercenaries posted outside, though. For a civilian they probably seemed like good protection. No wonder the townspeople were frightened. Her teacher frowned when he saw just how many there were and nonverbally signaled her.

**'Change of plans. Surround base with rain. No one leaves.'**

After the embarrassingly long moment before she realized he wanted her to use her paralytic, she nodded in agreement. It made sense. This many thugs could wreak havoc on the nearby town if they realized their source of pay was dead.

Her teacher settled down to wait- he'd head in a few minutes after the shower started; before people started collapsing, but late enough that no panic in the home would cause the patrolling thugs to go inside and discover the trick. Not that he would ever be sloppy enough to let anyone inside make a fuss.

Aiko unstoppered her favored poison and made a displeased face at what was left. She was going to have to mix up more when she got home—she hated doing that. It stank up the whole apartment. She started the drizzle very lightly, spreading it out as far as she could to obscure the fact that it was a suspiciously localized rain. The hired help cursed and talked amongst themselves when it started, but no one seemed to find it too strange.

And why would they? The sky was grey and the land of Wave was perpetually damp, as far as she could tell. It was almost criminally easy to pull moisture out of the low-hanging fog in order to supplement her water supply, siphoning the last of her poison out slowly and mixing it into the liquid.

Her teacher gently touched her shoulder to let her know he was leaving and then flickered away, inside the gaudy building within a second of exiting the treeline. She settled down to wait, focusing on sensing presence through her raindrops instead of abandoning the jutsu to pay attention normally. It was difficult for her to divide her attention and still maintain the right conditions, so she didn't even try.

When the first man slumped over, his companion tried to give a cry. Doubtlessly he discovered that the numbing in his limbs wasn't the result of the cold rain when he tried to check for enemies. Very quickly, the yard was full of still figures.

Aiko felt her lips pull into a strange smile at the altogether eerie sight. '_It's like Medusa's garden of stone.'_

The thought was perhaps overly morbid- none of these men would die from this. They would, however, be completely out of commission for at least a day. Civilians didn't have the sturdy constitution or chakra-enhanced ability to speed up bodily processes like shinobi did.

'_Rain, rain, go away. Please come back another day_.'

She hummed the rhyme quietly, swinging her legs on her perch. With her eyes closed to help her focus on her rain-enhanced chakra sensing, Aiko leaned back against the tree trunk.

Her teacher's chakra signature pinged on her crude radar well before she heard him, the instant he stepped outside- she opened her eyes and immediately spotted him. One dark gray eye surveyed the lawn, scattered with fallen mercenaries as if they were abandoned dolls. He hmm'd. "I don't think we should leave them. There's too many."

Aiko nodded. "I take it there's no one left inside then?"

With quiet efficiency, she and her teacher flitted about and gently, painlessly spilled blood all over the grass in front of the mansion.

* * *

"And you should have seen us! Me and the bastard were like wham!" Naruto illustrated this critical point by slamming a fist into his flat palm, knocking the spoon out of his soup and sending it winging towards Sakura. He didn't even notice her snatch it out of the air or scowl at the liquid on her dress.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, looking a little pleased with himself but less willing to brag openly. "It was just a few civilian thugs," he said calmly. "We handed them over to the local authorities."

Aiko carefully didn't allow her face to let on to the fact that those authorities had probably lynched the prisoners. It didn't seem like the kind of thing a boy whose family had managed a police force would like to hear.

"They didn't stand a chance!" The blonde crowed. "And Sakura-chan knocked the last one out with a **_bento_**." The girl flushed, but Naruto seemed to think the last point was both crucial and impressive. Aiko did her best to keep a straight face while Tsunami cracked up and Sasuke smirked. At the head of the table, their client beamed.

"I had my doubts, but you Konoha ninja are all right." He slurped down a frightening amount of alcohol and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Tsunami cringed visibly. The whiny child whose name she still didn't remember barely seemed to notice his grandfather at all. Instead, he was staring stupidly at Naruto with his jaw hanging open. It was either hero worship or a stroke. "I've decided to name my great bridge for your team! When it becomes incredibly famous, everyone will know about the Great … What's your team called, anyway?"

"Team seven," Sasuke said immediately at the same time Sakura said "Team Kakashi." They exchanged glances, but neither of them managed to speak again before Naruto banged a fist on the table and shouted "Team Kick-ass!"

There was a moment of silence, punctuated by the sound of a page flipping. "I like Naruto's suggestion," Kakashi said absentmindedly. Sakura groaned into her soup, but a corner of her mouth twitched up.

"Can you name a bridge that?" Tsunami asked dubiously.

They left the next morning—before the excrement really hit the fan over the slayings outside of town. It was very plausible that no one even knew yet, actually. At (genin) ninja speeds, team Kick-ass made it to the front gates of Konoha within two days. On the way, Naruto had managed to spill the fact that Sasuke had activated his Sharingan in their brawl against the thugs they'd f ought at the bridge and was giving serious thought to calling him "Pink-eye" instead of "Bastard". The sheer irritation of listening to the blonde re-hash the benefits and drawbacks of each name actually caused poor Sasuke to involuntarily activate his eyes again- three tomoe total, one in his right eye and two in his left.

They stood around while their team leader idly scrawled the last scintillating entry into the mission report he'd been writing (from what she could read over his shoulder, it looked to be 'met and eliminated targets. My minions eliminated civilian targets. Returned home. Will get barbeque tonight.') and then followed him to hand it in.

Team Kick-ass didn't quite manage to escape the building before the chuunin who had accepted the report groaned audibly and told them to wait in an adjoining room. Apparently missions that increased in difficulty while in-field had to be verbally debriefed on the same day.

The Hokage had been properly proud and horrified in turn, listening to Naruto's theatrical rendition interspersed with bland corrections from Kakashi and Sasuke. Aiko merely stood quietly at attention, trying not to look too bored. The Hokage doubtlessly knew she didn't like him. Sakura was uncharacteristically cowed by the presence of the current military dictator. As always, Naruto completely bulldozed over the obvious hints that his companions were uncomfortable or uninterested in favor of extending the conversation as long as possible.

By the time they finally escaped, three genin had six D-class and one A-class mission on their record. It was ridiculous enough that Aiko had to force down giggles, but on the bright side the pass he gave them ensured they didn't have to do any more D-ranks to complete the requirements to qualify for the Chuunin exams. They could devote the rest of the time to training, if they wanted.

The Hokage had put Kakashi on the spot- pulling Aiko away from the team temporarily for a semi-long term project and telling him that his genin wouldn't be taking any more missions until the exams.

The silver-haired man had all but groaned.

'_That was shitty,_' Aiko noted. _'Now Sensei can't motivate them with the promise that they won't get more crappy missions if they work hard.' _A large part of how Kakashi interacted with his team was subtle manipulation and mindfucks. By undermining his authority in front of his team, the Hokage had damaged his ability to lead them and make decisions at his own discretion. Granted, he was in fact Kakashi's superior as well, but why the hell would you put trainees under a supervisor and then undermine that authority? It was counterproductive. The genin should at least be under the illusion that their sensei had control over their education.

Sometimes she wondered if the Hokage was an asshole or just a total fucking moron.

The next morning, she reported to her new supervisor, Mitarashi Anko. The flames were almost six feet tall when she made it to the meeting place.


	13. The Waiting

"Buuuurn!" Anko's long coat flapped around her shins from the explosive force she had just released in training ground 44. She all but cackled, her fingers curled into claws and arms raised above her head in a V shape. "Burn baby, burn!"

A small figure stood on the other side of the clearing, eyes widening at the wall of fire traveling her way at high speed.

"Oh holy hell."

Aiko did her best to ignore the smoke in her face, flashing through the hand-signs for a truly epic water jutsu. The resultant wave splashed over the burning patch of forest in a sizzling tidal force. The other kunoichi leapt straight up, over the cresting water and flipped mid-air with panache before landing silently on top of the moving water in a theatrical pose.

"I had it under control, kid," Anko growled. "That was deliberate."

_'Sure it was.'_

Aiko shrugged apologetically. "I can't help but find open flames in the middle of Konoha a bit unnerving, Anko-sempai."

"Eh." The curvy brunette ('_Does it count as brunette even though it has purple tints?'_, Aiko wondered) shrugged away the implications of that statement. "So, you're my new minion?" She spat a short wooden stick out from between her lips, letting it slide into the charred ground. "Hope you're ready to do a whole load of shit work." She gifted the chuunin with a feral grin. "Because we got a lot to do. Starting with remodeling this training ground to be suitable for the chuunin exams."

Slowly, deliberately Aiko turned to survey the area. She hadn't trained in the 'Forest of Death' before, but it looked like any other training ground- thick forested areas cut by occasional streams. Then she raised an eyebrow at her supervisor.

The older girl scowled. "It wouldn't be much fun to herd the brats through a plain, boring set up. We're going to wire this place up for surveillance, plant the motherload of traps, and spruce up the wildlife."

"Is it for a survival exercise, then?" That made sense. As it was now, traveling through the forest would be little challenge even for a group of genin. It was likely that when she designed the second task, Anko had the twin concerns of wanting to intimidate foreign ninja (making a lasting impression that would keep them from underestimating Konoha) and wanting to ensure the general safety of the participants. It would be a waste to kill off more promising ninja than they had to. As this exam was going to be flooded with clan heirs and other genin of interest, the council was probably more invested in keeping them alive than in other years.

Her own chuunin exam had been in Sand, where they apparently weren't as big on teamwork as Konoha was. She had been allowed to compete alone, which had been both a curse and a blessing.

That would never happen in Konoha, though. In only a few hours they blazed trails through the forest, creating clearings and minimizing water supplies according to a map Anko had dreamed up. By changing the layout, even ninja who had trained in the area would be at a loss.

Plus it was a marvelous opportunity to destroy a whole lot of the environment. Aiko couldn't help but wince when hundred-year old trees were crisped and her new supervisor enthusiastically used earth jutsu to creatively add hills, holes and artfully shaped outcroppings. Her job was mainly the water system- they were redirecting entire streams into just two water pathways in order to create conflict by forcing teams together.

The whole thing was exhausting, and Aiko was about ready to collapse when they had finally altered the landscape to Anko's specifications. A nap was not in the cards, however.

"Get your lazy ass up, minion. How are you with summoning scrolls?"

Aiko blinked. "Using them?"

The older kunoichi gave her a disparaging look that was enhanced by the severely singed state of her clothes. "Don't be thick. I hope your calligraphy is good, because you are going to be making up scrolls and copying a lot of fancy poetry." She grimaced and scraped her tongue out over her teeth as if to get rid of a bad taste. "Better you than me. Just remember, failure on your part will end in the maiming of your fellow shinobi. No pressure."

For some reason it hadn't occurred to her that her home village was shamefully cheap. Instead of just paying a real seal maker to produce the dual scrolls to summon chuunin at the end of the task, it had been included as one of many items that had to be done by the two of them before the exams. That meant that she was essentially learning an entirely new skill set for B-class compensation that also included a host of other duties, a prospect that she was a little bitter about.

In a strangely domestic turn of events, they went together to pick up the supplies for her next task. Aiko was not surprised in the least to see that shopkeepers bowed anxiously and hurried to get her adult companion out of their stores.

She quite liked Anko and had for all the time she had known her. That didn't change the fact that it was easy to see Anko had a huge personality and verbally abusive tendencies when she got impatient.

Since her brother was probably going to be in the exam, for confidentiality reasons Aiko could only work on that project at Anko's home, a traditional styled house with a completely dead garden out front. The black vines and crunchy leaves had hinted at the state of the place, but it was only clear once she stepped inside that said dwelling place was a terrifying pit. She knew intellectually that many powerful shinobi had coping mechanisms. Apparently, one of Anko's was hoarding. The front room had artfully stacked piles of boxes of chocolate up to her waist, what appeared to be every dvd available in the fire nation and an entire wall of bookshelves full of everything from Jiraiya's porn series to ghost stories to a glittery red tome with the somewhat ominous title '_The Art of the Bitch'_.

The twelve (almost thirteen!) year old carefully stepped into the room around piles of mission reports and identical pairs of sandals ("I can only ever find the left ones," Anko had explained contemplatively when she noticed Aiko's incredulous expression), clutching her supplies carefully. She had taken the academy classes on introductory level seal work, but they had never actually made seals. Knowing the symbols and having a keen eye for detail would probably get her through this exercise, however. She hoped.

At Anko's direction, she gingerly piled the fancy scrolls onto the central table next to what appeared to be a naked painting of Anko generously splattered in blood, signed _'from a fan'_. The older kunoichi grinned at the sight, helping Aiko set out the bottles of special ink without breaking or spilling anything.

"Open those up and bleed in them," she commanded, as casually imperious as any queen could hope to speak. The redhead dutifully followed directions while Anko flickered out of the room to rustle around. She winced when something shattered. The voice that called back sounded a little distant. "I have plenty of brushes around here somewhere… Did I give you the scroll you'll be copying already?"

Aiko rolled her eyes and pulled a short bandage out from her thigh pouch to wrap around her bleeding palm, swiping up the droplets she'd accidentally gotten on the table's surface before they dried. "Not yet." With a **_chink_**, the now-closed bottles were shoved into a wide wooden box in order to keep them all in one place.

"Here." A scroll landed on the couch beside Aiko, on top of a purple decorative pillow. Her companion's aesthetic tastes seemed to run to purple, red, and tan, though the walls were traditional rice paper. "And this is the sissy fucking poem you'll be writing out. Let me check your work once you've copied one of each. I'm going to do a food run. Have any requests?"

Working on the preparations for the Chuunin exams was long, boring, and occasionally ended in hand cramps or mild electrical shocks from those sketchy surveillance units they planted in the forest at strategic locations. It also had the unpleasant side effect of completely disrupting her usual schedule- she hadn't had so much as a spar with Ino or morning conditioning with Team 7 since she had gotten reassigned.

More than once, Aiko found herself wondering how her genin were doing—and wasn't that a funny way for her to think of a group of kids her age? Still, she couldn't help but feel protective. If her foreknowledge was worth half a damn, shit was going to get serious soon.

The thought made her glum. Through sheer luck (and the fact that someone had tattled on her for having a decent working relationship with the occasionally terrifying Mitarashi Anko) she had gotten the one assignment that would place her sort-of close to team 7 when they encountered Orochimaru, but there was likely jack shit that she could do. There would be serious diplomatic repercussions if there was any hint of favoritism on her part—her career would pretty much be over. No one would trust her on a mission above C-class importance.

Besides all that, there was approximately zero chance that she could help fight off a sannin anyways. The one thing she kept wondering:

'_Are they really in danger anyways?'_

As far as she knew, Orochimaru wouldn't kill any of them. That was largely out of selfishness. He wanted Sasuke alive, and that meant someone had to watch out for him while he was assimilating the curse seal. There was absolutely zero chance that any of them would have escaped if he really wanted them dead.

She could only conclude that if things went predictably, her otouto and her team would not be in life-threatening danger. That was a pretty big 'if' to work with, however.

The issue was further complicated by the fact that she was starting to like Sasuke. It was hard to cold-bloodedly choose not to interfere in an attack on his person that would irrevocably change his personality, body, and put him in danger when she actually knew the kid. He was actually sweet underneath all the prickles—he would have done well in his family's police force. Sasuke seemed to want to protect people. The obsession with power wasn't really present yet.

Sakura, on the other hand, Aiko wouldn't have minded throwing to the wolves. Whatever potential the girl had was still invisible at this point, obscured behind her obnoxious personality, simpering mannerisms, and hair-trigger temper.

Feeling snippy, Aiko closed the tub of wax she had been rubbing into her boots and moodily tossed it aside. She was thoroughly sick of being responsible, but she dutifully trudged off to the kitchen and pulled out rubber gloves, a white sanitary face mask and the herbs and agents she used for her paralytic. She started the non-toxic base in the pot reserved for this task before slipping on the mask and hanging the "Mixing chemicals, do not disturb" sign on her front door. Naruto would probably still be at training for several hours and she didn't often get other visitors, but it was better to be safe than be stuck paying someone's hospital bills.

While she worked, Aiko turned on the radio (a new and expensive acquisition she never would have been able to purchase on a genin salary). Then she turned it off. "I fucking hate the koto," she muttered bitterly, stirring a little more vigorously than was necessarily wise. The process was intimately familiar and incredibly boring. Measure, pour. Stir, simmer, adjust heat. Prepare ingredient and measure, stir, turn up heat until roiling boil.

The last of the concoction was being carefully funneled into glass vials when enthusiastic thudding on the staircase alerted her that her otouto was barreling up. Aiko rolled her eyes, wondering if it was even worth it to scold him when the door burst open. The dangerous chemicals were put away, yes, but she had literally just finished and hadn't taken down the sign yet. For all he could have known, he was walking into thick clouds of lethal poison.

"Don't you read?"

Aiko slipped the first two vials into her equipment pouch and tucked the others safely away in the cupboard before her otouto wandered into the kitchen looking cheerfully disheveled.

"Whatcha mean, oneesan?" She heard the sound of porcelain and turned to smack his hand just as it escaped from the jar, cookie in hand. He flopped down into his chair, stretching back with both hands over his head so that the front legs came off the ground.

She sighed, rinsing her pot and setting it in the sink. "I had a note on the door that you shouldn't come in. Naruto, you need to pay attention. I was working with dangerous chemicals." She pulled the door open and ripped off her note before locking back up, setting down a quick genjutsu and kunai trap while she was at it. It was a little early to set up the nightly traps, but she might as well since they were both home early. It wasn't quite eight pm.

Frankly, she was tired of her current assignment and just wanted to get the stupid exam over with. It was now nine days until it started, which meant that the final preparations were being done in the next couple of days before foreigners started to arrive. She completely anticipated getting bit at least once by the rest of the exotic animals they were herding around in the forest.

"Why does it matter? I'm fine, aren't I?" Despite the pout she heard in his voice, Aiko wasn't willing to let it go. She rather frivolously used shunshin to position herself behind him and gave him a nougie, refusing to let go even when he shrieked and wiggled. "Hey, cut it out!"

"Then don't be such a butt!" A downright shocking amount of dirt and assorted filth fell out of his hair and gently drifted to the ground. She grimaced. "Oh, that's gross. Go wash yourself, stinky."

"Am not!"

"How would you know?" She slipped her hands to the back of his chair and pushed forward so that all four feet were on the ground. "I bet you can't even smell yourself over the sound of how loud you are."

"…wait, what?"

"You heard me."

* * *

"Who are you?"

Aiko narrowed her eyes at her idiot of a teacher. "Oh sorry, I forgot about your late-stage Alzheimers. I take it the treatment isn't going well."

"I suppose I wouldn't know." Kakashi calmly scanned his book.

Aiko, Sasuke and Sakura rolled their eyes in unison, getting to their feet/ jumping down from his tree. The wait for their sensei had been especially long today, which was more than a little annoying. Naruto had already lost interest in the conversation and was fidgeting, ready to get to work. It was the day before the exam—the culmination of what both groups had been working towards. Anko had laughed at Aiko when she showed up at her house that morning ("Idiot, take the day off").

"Well?" Sakura demanded, looking at her teacher. "How are you going to torment us today?"

Mildly surprised, Aiko gave the girl a once-over. Kakashi must have been especially mean in the month she'd been too busy to come to team practices in order to put her in the kind of mood where she'd abandon her thin veneer of politeness without provocation.

"Yeah, old man." Naruto bounded over, practically vibrating with excess energy. "A race or a free-for-all or maybe we can do that jutsu competition again! I'll kick the bastard's ass this time, 'ttbayo!"

If she hadn't been looking, she might have missed the twitch Sasuke suppressed.

"Mah," the man sighed, still not looking at any of them. "Actually, I just wanted to tell you we have no practice today."

The field was completely silent.

As if he was alone, Kakashi quietly mused, "Why does everyone call me old?"

"You made us wait four hours to tell us that there was no practice today," Sakura said, tone somewhere between incredulous and calm rage, ignoring his rumination.

Naruto's eye twitched rapidly and his cheeks started to fill with color. Sasuke and Aiko merely exchanged tired glances- why were those two so surprised? The enormous overreactions had ceased to be cute a long time ago.

"Mmhm. I just wanted to be sure you three had a nice, relaxing day before your test tomorrow." He casually raised a hand. "Bye." In a poof of foul-smelling smoke (and he could totally control that, he didn't have to make it so unpleasant) the figure that she now knew had been a clone dispersed. He was probably giggling miles away.

'_Maybe that's what the giggles usually mean,_' she thought crabbily. '_When he laughs it's because he's tormenting someone from a distance. It would explain a lot.'_

Then Aiko sighed. '_If he isn't going to be an adult and make sure they're ready for the test, I'll do it.'_

The three genin turned with varying levels of excitement when she clapped her hands decisively. "Alright then. We're going to hang out at my apartment."

Sakura's eyes flickered to Sasuke and she started to open her mouth—doubtlessly to make excuses and ask Sasuke to hang out alone. She stopped when Aiko turned a glare on her, then scanned the other two just as sternly. "We are having fun time," she said calmly. "Fun time is mandatory. I want the two of you to pack everything you think you will need for your tests tomorrow and meet in front of the red apartment complex on Tobirama and sixth in fifteen minutes, twenty for Sakura since she lives further away. If you aren't there, I will come and get you. Go now."

All three genin dashed away. Alone in the field, Aiko gave a yawn and slowly sauntered home. '_Why do they seem to think I have authority over them?' _Her field authority ended when they weren't interacting in an official capacity.

Even Sakura made it within the allotted fifteen minutes, toting a heavy bag and a short stack of hair ties on her thing wrist. Aiko gave that concession a nod of approval—it was unusually practical for her, but still appreciated. The boys had packed lighter. They settled into the living room for Aiko to check it over. While Sakura pretended not to look at the pictures on the walls (all either photographs of the two of them, Kakashi or Ino or sketches) Sasuke slinked in looking spectacularly uncomfortable in the domestic setting.

"Naruto, make tea please." Aiko unzipped the first pack, checking the contents by feel.

"Uh, yeah." He picked his way to the kitchen and uncertainly rustled through the tins of tea. "Any preferences?"

Sasuke remained silent, so Naruto shrugged and made Sakura's pick. With her legs curled under the table and her back to the couch, Aiko bit her lower lip in thought. "Sasuke, did you intentionally leave out smoke pellets?"

"I've never used them,' he pointed out. Aiko tilted her head in thought, counting his soldier pills.

"Yes, but it's always good to be able to make a quick escape if a fight isn't worth your time and you're on a schedule."

He slowly cocked his head. "Is that a hint," he asked dryly, the slightest tinge of humor in his voice.

Aiko felt her face flushing. '_Oh, crap. I guess it was a little bit of a giveaway.'_

"Definitely not," she said a little too weakly to be convincing, leaning her head forward to hide behind a curtain of hair. The follow-up huff of amusement let her know that he didn't buy it, but he dropped the topic. He wasn't very chatty anyways.

Sakura and Naruto fell into their usual bumbling comedy act, shouting, whining, and shaking fists (Sakura, Naruto and then Sakura again, respectively) while the tea steeped and Aiko supplemented Naruto's pack with some really nasty explosive tags. Then she thought better of that and handed them to Sasuke.

"Here you go." Naruto clanked down four cups of tea and collapsed to the floor criss-cross applesauce. Sakura leaned forward for a cup and gingerly settled onto a corner of the couch, looking uncertain and shy.

With a sigh, Aiko closed the last pack and set them by the door. "You're all good to go for tomorrow. I just wanted to be sure. Alright." She beamed at the three genin in her front room. "We're going to spend the night together so no one is late. Can't hurt to do some last-minute bonding, right? Anyone hungry?"

Naruto semi-frantically cleaned up the restroom while Sakura went on a run for fresh vegetables clutching a wad of Aiko's money. She set a sullen-faced brunette to work cutting and seasoning meat while she hummed, clearing the table of all seal ink and other assorted mess.

* * *

"Sasuke… you're going to make a great housewife for some guy."

The brunette made a violent jab for Naruto with his chopsticks, missing only because the blonde leaned back to pat his belly in a satisfied manner.

"Take it as a compliment," Sakura advised. "This is amazing!" The pink-haired girl practically had stars in her eyes.

'_She would have thought it was amazing no matter what_,' Aiko thought dryly. _'It was made by her precious Sasuke-kun. Can't help but notice that I'm getting no credit.'_

There was some truth to Sakura's claim, however. "If only I had known you could cook like this earlier…" Aiko gave a long, luxurious stretch. The brunette turned his face away abruptly, but both girls could see the flush on his neck. They exchanged a rare, smug smile. "Hey Naruto, take care of the dishes."

"Why me?" he protested crossly, swinging back up.

The three kids who had worked on dinner simultaneously raised one eyebrow- the left for Sasuke and Sakura, the right on Aiko.

He scoffed. "Ugh, fine." With a clatter he gathered up the dirty plates and trudged off to the kitchen.

The room was momentarily awkward. Aiko felt like rolling her eyes- none of them knew how to interact outside of training and missions. '_How did Sakura get stuck with an entire team of socially awkward weirdoes?' _Unfortunately, that category included herself, so she didn't really know how to break up the tension.

The girl might have been wondering the same thing.

"Ah, Aiko-san, thank you for helping us get ready." She inclined her head politely, and when the light caught green eyes on the way back up and glittered Aiko suddenly saw just what her otouto found so appealing about this girl.

"You're welcome, Sakura-chan. I'm really hoping all goes well for you three tomorrow." Her tone was a little wistful when she added, "I'm really hoping to get some good missions again. This last month has kind of been a bummer."

Sasuke snorted indelicately. "Couldn't possibly have been much worse than what Kakashi put us through." If anyone else had said that, Sakura would probably have protested. As it was, she merely looked a little uncomfortable.

"Sasuke-kun is right!" she declared. "I think he gets way too much fun out of tormenting us."

"You wanna bet?" Aiko asked jokingly. "I bet I have worse Sensei stories than you do."

Even Sakura looked skeptical. Aiko waved a hand sincerely. "No, really, it's true. You guys are benefitting from him having two years experience training a subordinate. When he first became my teacher… It was bad. Has he had you break into other ninja's houses yet?"

Big green eyes went even wider. "Isn't that illegal," Sakura asked, sounding scandalized.

* * *

Aiko curled and uncurled her toes inside her nice, warm boots, cursing the chilly morning air that raised goosebumps along her uncovered arms. She was the only one stationed in the central tower. Anko was likely running last minute preparations before she went to collect the ducklings from Ibiki.

Static hissed in her headset and she grimaced, pulling it slightly away from her ear. Not so much that she couldn't hear if someone else got on the frequency, however. She was one of only a few on that channel for the day, along with Anko and a squad that would be circling the training ground to make sure nothing got out of hand. Hours passed. Her headset clicked on and Anko's voice filtered through, sounding tinny.

"Midgets are on the move."

A male voice crackled on. "Mitarashi-san, you are supposed to say 'over' when you are finished transmitting. Over."

"Suck some big hairy balls, over."

Aiko snorted, and then gave a quick look around to make sure no one had heard. She was still alone. The sun had crawled along the skyline and at least an hour had passed before she heard signs of human life in person (the occasional reports on her headset didn't count. It was a mostly boring, methodical 'check in-check out' deal). Curious at who had made it to the tower so early, Aiko swung her legs over the railing of the curved staircase that lead all the way up to the top of the tower and allowed herself to go into a free falls head first, appreciating the feeling of air whipping over her face. She flipped midair to kick off of the wall and jump under the partial ceiling into the entry way.

Two of the three kids standing there looked at her curiously. Aiko grinned, leaning forward cheekily. "Hey, Kunoichi-san, shinobi-san! I remember you from Suna, two years ago. Whose your cute friend?"

The blonde who could only be Temari turned a thoroughly unbecoming shade of red.

_'This is probably a really stupid idea,'_ she thought happily. 'Teasing Gaara is a downright awful idea.' It was awful… and she loved it.

Her fellow redhead turned to look at her for the first time (and he was REALLY a redhead, not like Kankuro's reddish brown). Well. It was more of a 'glare' than a 'look', she decided, popping her gum. Semantics.

"You're the first team in. I take it this was no trouble, then?"

"Mitarashi-san, we have trouble. Over."

Aiko stiffened, missing whatever Kankuro was saying. "Just a minute," she said distractedly, holding one hand to her ear to better position the headset. Temari gave her a rude look, turning away to confer with Kankuro about the scrolls. She heard the summoning go off, but didn't feel the urge to check her work.

"What is it, shitstain?"

"Bodies by the fifth gate, but they're like nothing I've ever seen. Their faces are just gone, like they melted off. I don't know who could do something like this. Over."

There was a long moment of silence on the headset and distracting chatter from whatever idiot chuunin had come to tell the sand kids they had passed. She crossed the room, listening intently, all but holding her breath.

"I do," Anko said, sounding more serious than Aiko had ever heard. She shivered_. 'It's starting_.' Aiko had been waiting anxiously, half-expecting that nothing would happen and the exam would go fine. "I want a full ANBU team. I'm heading in. That's Orochimaru's work, I bet anything. That fucker is in the forest."

Aiko clicked on her headset. "Permission to rendezvous, Mitarashi-san? Over."

"Fuck no," came the irritated reply. There was a short pause. Aiko found with mild surprise that her fingers were actually shaking where they were pressed against her fingers. "Actually, you can help. Soak the whole fucking forest and direct me to the biggest, baddest chakra signature in it."

"Understood, over."

She decisively turned her attention from the headset, surveying the room again. Kankuro was giving her a wary look as he trudged up the stairs behind his siblings. "Kunoichi-san!" Temari turned, a sneer on her face. "You and your team should be careful. We have an S-class criminal in the forest killing genin for some kami-forsaken reason." As the girl blanched, Aiko leapt ahead of the group, taking the stairs at a sprint, planning on going to the very top level. "Could I get your help for a moment?"

"You need my help in the shower room," Temari said flatly, looking almost literally deflated. It apparently wasn't the action she'd hoped for. Aiko ignored the attitude, leaping to the window and drawing her fist back to punch once, twice, and it shattered on the third blow, exploding mostly out into the forest. "Hey, what the hell-"

"Turn on all the faucets. Now." Aiko kicked the last bit of glass out from the edges and grabbed the sides, ignoring how it cut into her hands. "I'm going to siphon it outside. Leave it on and try to prevent flooding in the tower until I ask you to turn it off, okay?"

The other girl reluctantly followed directions, letting the water build up. Aiko flipped out onto the roof, landing on the roof like some kind of gargoyle. She took a long breath, and held, finding her center and preparing for a sustained technique. Then she reached for all the water below her, ripping it from the showers, drains, and speeding it out of the pipes. Something broke, but she calmly ignored Temari's shriek and subsequent cursing. She whipped her arms out to the sides, sweat forming as she accumulated a massive glob of liquid in front of her and infused it with her chakra.

Then she made it rain, all the way out to the gates and stretching into Konoha proper for good measure. Chakra signatures ping-ping-pinged on her radar- familiar and unfamiliar, ANBU, Anko, a veritable fuck ton of weak little genin, her brother… and.

"Holy shit."

Aiko clicked on her headset. "Anko, thirty degrees west of your position, about a mile out." Her voice cracked. "He's with my brother's team."


	14. Blood in the Water

In the belly of the beast, Naruto struggled. He couldn't get a grip on the snake's slick insides to force his way back to the mouth…

_'Why would I want to go back to the mouth? Poisonous fangs that way.'_

If he couldn't get out through the hole that already existed, he'd have to make one. His only blades were kunai, though. Cutting that way would take too long. He'd be severely burnt by that point. That in mind, he pulled the one explosive tag he'd been allowed with trembling fingers, despite his restricted state. He kept it close to his chest to keep as much slime off of it as possible, and then stuffed it in his left glove for the same purpose.

"Let's hope I can give it right amount of charge." He'd never been good at using the least amount of chakra possible. Naruto had always been best at making enormous explosions from even cheap tags. But that would kill him in these confined quarters. He grimaced against the pain of the stomach acid around him and wiggled as far in one direction as he could before hooking the glove around his last kunai… which he then drove as far as possible into the side of the beast.

It was hard to tell, but the sinuous rocking movement he'd been feeling seemed to get more violent. Naruto grimaced, wishing for air, and reached his hand through the hole he'd pierced to touch the end of the kunai, feeling wet meat around his hand, stretching and convulsing… and then he lit up just the one finger that touched the ringed end of his kunai with the lightest tinge of neutral chakra.

* * *

"I can't wait any more…"

Aiko bit clean through her lower lip, blood wetting her chin and mixing with the cold rain. She flipped to look into the bathroom, startling Temari. "You can turn them off. Thank you."

Before the girl could respond, Aiko straightened and bounded over the treetops to where she felt that monstrous chakra that nearly obscured team seven's signatures. Anko was mere moments away from reaching them, an ANBU team hot on her heels.

"Anko, I'm coming."

She didn't get a reply. The older girl was doubtlessly a little preoccupied.

* * *

Sakura whined through her teeth, eyes frantic in her skull. She didn't have the time to brush her now-wild hair out of her face, and if she did it would be more likely that she would use the time to address the freely bleeding wound in her shoulder. She had been forced to pull out the kunai pinning her to the tree in order to escape the next hit.

Something twinged in her knee when she bounced off a tree trunk and struggled to get upright, working desperately to clear the area that was being torn apart by whatever the hell that jutsu was. She blinked back tears of pain and fear, feeling cold on the back of her neck.

_'This guy… he's a monster! He's no genin.' _

She hadn't seen Naruto in almost three minutes- not a very long time in normal circumstances, but seeing as he'd disappeared just before the scariest fight of her life against someone who was obviously toying with Sasuke-kun (and that meant he was far out of her league), she was fucking terrified that he was already dead.

_'I can't think about that now!_' She strained her muscles, fighting her way through debris and wind that cut and tongues of fire towards her other teammate - what a terrible time for the rain to suddenly stop, but at least nothing was catching fire. She could barely see his silhouette through the mess—he was standing too close, far too close to their monstrous opponent.

Sakura had to have been hallucinating, though, because it looked like his fucking head popped off attached to a taffy neck and stretched out to kiss Sasuke. Inanely, she couldn't help but think, _'You jackass, Sasuke's first kiss was supposed to be mine.' _Even though that couldn't be what had happened, and Sasuke's knees were buckling under. She launched off to catch his prone body, muscles screaming, opponent forgotten. That was Sasuke falling. She couldn't let Sasuke fall.

Out of the corner of her eye, it seemed that the man was slowly turning to look at her with a flash of yellow eyes. Couldn't be. No one had yellow eyes. She grit her teeth and **reached, **ready to grab Sasuke and spring away, she saw someone coming in hot nearby, seconds away, she had backup she was going to be fine and she could find Naruto no baka and hit him for scaring her like that and everything would be fine, it would…

"How annoying," Orochimaru hissed, snatching the little brat right out of the air and ripping out the front of her neck in one smooth motion, stunned green eyes staring up at the warm spray of blood that resulted. Then he let go. The little corpse fell, colliding unpleasantly with tree branches in a tragic flop of soft white limbs and crashing through damp leaves, sending water droplets flying like jewels. "Anko-chan, I didn't expect you to come and ruin my fun so quickly. Did you miss your sensei?"

Anko bared her teeth, determinedly not looking at the tiny body crumpled and awkwardly hanging in the thick underbrush below, swaying slightly from the force of the fall she had just barely arrived too late to prevent. "You evil fucker," she hissed right back. "Don't mock me! You left me like trash. But you're not getting away this time."

Amusement was in every sinuous line of his body. "Oh really," he purred, slipping on a pleasant smile like a mask.

"Yes." She settled the now-unconscious Uchiha boy in the crook of the tree so that he didn't fall, keeping both eyes on Orochimaru. He placidly let her. Unease prickled at the back of her neck- why hadn't he killed this one too? Where was the third kid?

"Did you see the present I gave Sasuke-kun?" the conversational tone made her jerk unpleasantly, feeling as if her skin was pulling and slipping off._ 'No, no, no, not another, no no no'_… "Don't be jealous, but it's much better than yours."

Her hand instantly clapped onto her seal, where it seemed as if her skin and the muscle and the bone **they were on fire** and how could she move or even breathe… She gritted her teeth through the pain and pushed it away, flinging a brace of kunai to break his concentration.

It didn't work, but the four man ANBU squad that burst through the treeline baring steel like teeth did distract him a bit… just as a little blonde head bounded into the clearing and took in the tableau.

"Kid!" She hollered. "Grab your teammate up here and get the fuck out, to the tower. Forget the exam."

Orochimaru frowned, dodging the first volley, ducking and weaving between two short swords, some bitch spitting lightning and almost right into the spray of senbon Anko flung. In a flash of movement she barely caught, one of the ANBU was sent jerking violently to collide with a tree trunk.

"What happened to the bastard?" The blonde boy pulled desperately at his teammate. "Wake up, asshole!" His voice broke. "You've gotta help me find Sakura-chan."

Anko flinched, shunshining away from the bright green snake that shot for her face. "Kid, ain't nobody that can help that little girl anymore. Get your friend the fuck out of here! Your sister will meet you. She's close."

"I can't leave her!" he shouted. She grimaced, glancing involuntarily down, down, down to where the little girl with the red dress had fallen. His eyes tracked hers and widened in comprehension, then disbelief.

There was no way to mistake that for unconsciousness.

She didn't have time to deal with his panic attack- no time to cope with his screams of pain that quickly turned to howls of rage. She made time to turn to check when red, red chakra that was sickeningly familiar and almost as traumatizing as that sickly green-black chakra that she had used to admire so much. Wide eyed, she took just one glance at the crouched figure shrouded in unnatural, shit-your-pants-scary demonic chakra.

"Oh ho ho ho. What's thissssss."

"None of your damn business," she barked, rejoining the fight with a fury. That fucker wasn't taking her seriously!

And then he was gone. No shunshin that she saw, no sprint, nothing. He was just gone.

"What the fuck," a confused tenor voice breathed from under a porcelain mask. "Orders, Mitarashi-san?"

She grunted, surveying the situation again. "Escort those two kids to the tower, right now. I'm going to find Hokage-sama."

Her earpiece flickered on. "What's going on, Anko? I can't sense Orochimaru."

She sighed, feeling the adrenaline flood out. Wearily, she put one hand to her head to turn her headset on. "He's gone. I have your brother. He'll be heading to the tower. If you know how, I'd contact that sensei of yours." Dark eyes flickered to the crumpled figure curled into the tree. "I think he's the best seal master in town." She snorted derisively. "Not saying much."

* * *

Aiko clenched her fist around her brother's still hand, back hurting from her leaning position over the hospital bed. They'd been forced to tranquilize him to keep him from wrecking the place up.

She felt numb.

Shouldn't she had been able to do something about this?

'_No, no, no,_' her mind insisted. '_I couldn't have predicted this. No one could have predicted this. And no one will ever know that I should have known, should have known.'_

His little hand was warm in hers. She could feel his heart beat through her fingers.

'_Sakura doesn't have a heartbeat,_' something traitorous whispered. _'Cold, dead, in the forest. They'll get her in the morning, they said. No hurry, no hurry.'_

The door opened and closed quietly. She didn't have to look up to know that her teacher was staring out the window, fingers probably still stained with ink from the emergency sealing he had just performed. She let Naruto's hand slip from her and walked over to wrap her arms around her sensei's waist, burying her face into his flak jacket. He didn't react.

Aiko breathed deeply, searching for something familiar in the warm scent. She knew he used the same weapon polish, but she couldn't pick the scent out at all. He just smelled warm and safe.

Slowly, reluctantly one trembling hand rested gently against her back. For a man of his caliber, the shaking was almost as telling as the fact that he reached for reassurance, no matter how minor.

They waited as the day fled into night, shadows chasing slowly over white sheets on hospital beds.

Sasuke woke up a few hours before Naruto did, just about when she had finally steeled herself to asking if anyone had talked to Sakura's parents ('_and told them that she's dead in the leaves, one little leaf in a forest_').

"Ugh." The groan caught both of their attention. Aiko untangled herself from the blanket on her shoulders and pushed aside the curtains around Sasuke's bed. He blinked up at her blearily, one hand attached to the base of his neck like a vise. "What happened," he rasped. "That man, in the forest. Who was he?"

"Orochimaru of the Sannin," Kakashi stated quietly, one dark eye intent on the waking boy's reactions. "He…"

"Sakura's dead," Aiko said abruptly. Too abruptly. There was no way to sugar coat that. It would be a waste of time to try. She fell back into the chair beside his bed, pulling her legs up to her chest. "Dead dead dead in the forest."

Her teacher gave her an alarmed look. _'No need_,' she thought. '_I'm fine, I was never near him. Don't look at me don't look.'_

The brunette pulled in a long, slow, pained breath. "I see." The words were quiet. "And… and Naruto?"

"He's in that bed," sensei pointed to the adjoining room. "He had to be sedated."

Aiko stared at her knees.

"How?" The word had the most emotion she had ever heard in Sasuke's voice before. It wasn't grief, but it was something.

"I wasn't there," sensei said quietly. "I don't know."

"She can't breathe." She said abruptly. "Not without a throat. They left her. We left her. Sensei, are we going to go back and get her?" She hadn't seen it happen, of course. The ANBU had been attempting to calm Naruto down when she arrived. If she had been looking, she would have seen Sasuke's face turn green.

"Aiko, why don't you lie down. I think Sasuke could use a cuddle." He didn't even glare at the man. Sensei patted her head. "I'm going to go talk to the Hokage.

"Okay." Blearily, she untucked her legs and climbed into the bed. Silently, her teammate slid over to give her room underneath the covers. "I'm not tired, you know."

"Hn." Sasuke rolled over to stare at the ceiling.

"I never liked her." He turned his head a little to look at her. She was staring at the place where the wall and ceiling met, eyes dull and almost impassive. "I thought she was annoying and that she didn't take her career seriously. But she was just a little girl." She licked dry lips, weighing the next words. "She was going to get better. She was going to realize that her job was important and she was going to do well. But now she won't. If I'd been better-"

"Shut up." Sasuke wearily closed his eyes, pushing back the strange pain on the juncture of his neck and shoulder that no one had explained yet. He'd thought that freak – _Orochimaru_, he would remember that name, he would kill that man too because Sasuke didn't care when someone was out of his league, he'd always been second best or worse and he'd never let that stop him before – Anyway, he'd thought that freak had bit him there. Was that really a dream, or did it happen? He didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about the man who had beat him around like an Academy brat with laughter on his tongue. And he didn't want to think that the man had killed Sakura.

Weak, pathetic, annoying Sakura. Annoying Sakura who had spent more time on her hair than her kunai. Sakura who had followed him around with stars in her eyes like he was someone worth looking up to. Sakura who had picked all those fights with the idiot for his sake even though he definitely didn't need the help.

He pushed away the hurt with the ease of long practice, compartmentalizing the new pain with the old pain that belonged to the little boy in his mind who screamed, screamed, screamed 'why'. The girl beside him turned onto her side and tangled cold fingers into the front of his shirt. He let her. It was weakness, but even Sasuke could forgive a little weakness in the dark.

* * *

Kakashi stood in his shower, head bowed. He'd had to get out of that room. That made three out of three students that he would be referring to the mental health division for a short break. Apparently Aiko wasn't as ready for trauma as he'd thought.

'_Am I cursed?'_ He slowly raised one shaking hand to look at it._ 'How the hell did I manage to get another teammate killed? I wasn't even there.'_

The drain turned into a whirlpool, sucking out all the liquid and the oxygen and leaving only steam for him to breathe. He didn't mind.

He had already been to a briefing- it wasn't his briefing, but the Hokage had let him linger while someone talked about broken records and a flood in the tower all the way down to the first floor and faceless Rain ninja and a group of Sound ninja that definitely hadn't been genin who had attacked and been killed by the ANBU that swept the forest to make sure everything was clear. They had extracted one unconscious group of students as well as one girl whose teammates were dead. She was in the hospital somewhere, probably scared and alone. He didn't care. He had enough to care about.

Someone had already been sent to retrieve his student's body and arrange it a little more respectfully in case her civilian parents wanted it. They would be contacted in the morning. No use in making them lose sleep.

_'I put a twelve year old on the mission stone. That's a new low.'_

The night had been a bad one, on all counts.

* * *

Karin Uzumaki stared out her hospital window with wide, red eyes. She'd never been in a room like this before. But then, Konoha was famous for the quality of their medicine, and an orphan like her wouldn't have merited the best her village had to offer anyway.

Her team was dead.

She tried out the thought, remembering the terror she had felt when she realized she was alone in that forest of horrible animals and acid traps, being herded along the river to enemies she could feel but not avoid. It was slightly worse than being in the forest with her teammates, who at least couldn't kill her until the task was over.

If she wasn't so unsure about what was going to happen to her now, she'd be happy she had escaped her teammates. But they were going to kill her if she dared return without them. She had been the mere filler meant to allow the real nin to take the exam in sissy Konoha that would only accept full teams.

One slim hand pressed to her stomach to quiet the rumbling within. She'd been hustled in quickly and efficiently, treated with a pretty glowing hand technique that sealed up all her hurts and erased the splinter break in her shin bone… until they got to the paperwork and found out her name. Karin had no idea why the nurse had been so skeptical, but she had abruptly left the room and started a conversation with someone Karin couldn't see.

"May I come in, Uzumaki-san?"

She jumped a little, and gave the door a suspicious look. "O-of course."

The hand that opened the door was wrinkled, aged, and attached to a face that even she knew. Her face burnt. "H-Hokage-san!" The title was insufficient, but she couldn't refer to a foreign nin as 'sama'. They would skin her alive back home in grass. The fact that she had been brought in by Orochimaru-sama himself wouldn't matter—he was far too busy to pay much attention to a genin he'd rescued years ago. The old man didn't seem to mind the mild disrespect. He merely smiled at her.

"Forgive me, but when I heard we had an Uzumaki in the hospital, I had to see. The family resemblance is undeniable, young lady."

"W-what?"

"You didn't know?" He indicated for her to follow. "You have the Uzumaki look about you, especially your hair. I think you look even more Uzu than the Uzumaki we have in Konoha."

Her heart stopped. "My family is from Konoha?" She knew nothing about her family. She'd always been a foreigner and an orphan- twice cursed.

"Not originally, no. But Konoha has a long history with the Uzumaki. The wife of one of our founding fathers was an Uzumaki, as well as the late Kushina-chan, who you might know as the Bloody Habanero."

Karin shook her head slowly. "I don't know who that it."

"She very nearly became the fourth Hokage."

Red eyes went wide. Her family sounded kind of awesome. Her family. That was a new phrase.

"Forgive an old man his rambling. Tell me, would you accompany me for a late dinner? I'm afraid I was working late."

* * *

Ino eyed the other blonde kunoichi with distaste. There was just no excuse for hair like that- it looked like straw. The Suna nin gave a smirk in return.

"Ino, if you're done asserting your dominance, they're going to start talking soon." She rolled her eyes at her grumpy teammate.

"Don't be ridiculous, Shikamaru. Not everyone is here yet. We couldn't possibly have beat Sasuke-kun's team in, even if he is slowed down by Forehead girl and Naruto." She raised up onto her toes, scanning the crowd for that shock of black hair.

The tall boy standing by the kunoichi she'd been glaring at gave a snicker. "It's funny when we know more than the natives," he drawled. "You mean the team with the irritatingly loud blonde, right? Don't you know? That team is disqualified."

Ino reddened. "W-what? You take that back! No way."

Teal eyes flashed with amusement, and she heard the other girl's voice for the first time. "Kankuro, play nice. I'm sure she knows what she's talking about." She jerked her head. "Let's go." With a scuff of sandals, the two followed their red-headed teammate to the room where the genin were gathering to hear results.

Chouji shrugged. "It's possible," he offered, caught between being the voice of reason and the peacekeeper. "Naruto could have peeked at a scroll or something. That wouldn't be Sasuke's fault at all."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Troublesome. Who cares?" He shuffled off, quickly followed by her other male teammate. Ino gave one last look around the room and gave up her search as a bad job_. 'I'm sure I'll see him soon.'_

But team 7 was nowhere to be seen. They sidled up next to their year mates uneasily. Hinata seemed worried too: she had actually activated her Byakugan to search.

"There's only one Konoha team missing," she whispered. "I don't see them anywhere."

Konoha had done very well in the second task—other teams had apparently been overwhelmed by the native flora and fauna.

A cough. "Unfortunately, there are too many teams. We are going to have to have an elimination round."

Ino cursed, bouncing up onto Shikamaru's shoulders so that she could see what was going on. The speaker looked like he was about to fall over from a wasting disease. She wrinkled her nose distastefully.

'_Getting through this exam was tough enough. I don't think my team is ready to fight again already.'_

They'd nearly gotten their butts handed to them by that Rain team using genjutsu… Shikamaru had spotted it, but it was still close. They had been desperate- it had been the last day and they hadn't so much as seen another team… Aside from the incident where they hid in the bushes and watched that Suna kunoichi's teammate crush an entire grass team alive. She shuddered a little.

_'Four Konoha teams, the Sand team, and one Rain… Unless Konoha loses all our fights, we'll be dominating the Finals.'_ She gave a slightly feral grin. '_That makes 9 matches…_'

And as if by divine providence, her match was first. She strutted into the ring… and then deflated at the sight of her opponent. '_He looks so weird!'_ She didn't have a problem with the color green, exactly, but this fellow leaf nin apparently had terrible taste in everything. '_He desperately needs my help. I hope he fights better than he dresses.'_

The boy she was to fight slid into a serious position, left hand upraised and just a hint of a blush across his cheeks. "I am honored by this fight, Yamanaka-san!"

She sighed_. 'He's not great at trash talk, either_.' "Let's go already!"

Ino was the best kunoichi of her class. She had always been praised for her aggression, creative taijutsu (honed by practice against a real genin for two whole years) and comparative body strength.

But this kid gently, smoothly deflected or flowed around everything she threw at him. She caught a glimpse of one of the Rain nin looking nervous about the quality of genin that Konoha produced. She was starting to feel pretty nervous, too. If she were Shikamaru, this would be where she came up with a clever plan, or used weaponry or something. But she wasn't the planner, and her taijutsu was the strongest non-lethal tool she had. She didn't want to actually hurt a fellow leaf-nin with kunai.

Ino forced herself a little faster, burning desperately to get at least one hit in. The world was a blur around her. She was more insulted than anything that her opponent was clearly avoiding actually fighting her- at the speed he moved, he could have ended the fight already if he actually tried to hit her.

As if he heard her, Rock (and was a silly name, thought the girl named Pig) flew forward in a whirlwind of limbs. "You fought well, Yamanaka-san, but now it is my turn. Konoha Senpu!"

The next thing she knew was waking up groggily to the sight of her teacher. "Did anyone catch the wagon that ran me over?" She sat up, swaying slightly.

"No, but you missed two fights." The scent of salty bbq floated through the air. "You know the guy who beat you? His female teammate beat Kiba, and then that blonde Suna nin you were growling at beat their last teammate."

"Ha, at least one of his teammates bit it," she muttered bitterly. "Who is next?"

"The tallest Suna nin and one of the Leaf genin from the oldest team. Yoroi or something."

The Suna nin won, thoroughly confusing the genin who screeched something about his chakra stealing abilities failing. By the time the next match was announced she could sit up unassisted, which was good because Shikamaru was fighting one of the three Rain nin. He drew the match out for absolutely forever, but eventually won.

"Go Hinata!" Kiba yelled raucously, somehow seeming unaffected by his recent ass-kicking. "He's the shortest kid here!"

Ino winced when she saw the match-up… Hinata was facing that red-headed boy who she had seen gleefully kill an entire team. "I don't like this," she muttered. Asuma gave her an indulgent smile.

"Have more faith in your fellow leaf nin. I'm sure the Hyuuga girl is strong."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Hinata is pretty good, but that guy…" she shuddered. "He killed an entire team in the forest and laughed."

Her teacher scratched his head. "I'm sure she'll be fine. If it looks bad, I'll jump in, okay?"

It did get bad, and she was glad he made that promise. When the mediator tried to stop the match, she shoved at her teacher. Just in time, he grabbed up Hinata and pulled her away from the floating cloud of sand creeping up her arms. The screams were horrible.

Beside Ino, even Shikamaru was pale. "Her hands…" They were a bloody, mangled mess. Mutters of discontent fluttered throughout the small crowd. It looked like she was never going to be able to write again, much less fight. A laugh went up from the tallest Suna nin, the creep in all the facepaint.

The next matches were pretty subdued—Shino drained all of Chouji's chakra and won, a rain nin beat the silver-haired Konoha nin with glasses, and the last Rain nin won her match against the last team mate from the oldest Konoha team.

"Well, I guess that's it.." Ino went to get up, but was stopped by her teacher.

"Hold on." He didn't seem to notice he still had Hinata's blood on his sleeves. "They're going to announce the match-ups ahead of time. We should hear Shikamaru's before we go."

Shikamaru groaned after the first round was announced. "I'm the first match?"

Ino elbowed him. "At least you get to beat up that jackass who laughed at Hinata." She glared across the room. "And you had better!" She scoffed. "I'm already mad that I'm going to have to cheer for the weirdo who beat me. I hate that Sand girl more."

"I wouldn't want to be that panda girl," Chouji muttered.

Ino shuddered. "Agreed. And having to wait til the last round? Talk about pressure."

The girl in question merely looked determined to fight the redhead. Ino would have given up. No point in dying in some stupid competition.

* * *

"Haruno-san? May I come in? I need to have a talk with you about your daughter."


	15. Chapter 15

Asuma barely noticed when his female genin grabbed the boy who'd beat her by the collar and started scolding him – something about how she couldn't be seen in public after having been defeated by someone with eyebrows like that and she was going to drag him directly to the salon because he had to avenge Hinata in the finals and she didn't want her Sand-y rivals to think Konoha nin didn't know how to dress – Okay, so he noticed more than a little. That was part of being an elite ninja.

One of the other things he had noticed was that Kakashi's team was missing and no one seemed to know why. That detail was strange.

His team had been slated for success, after all. He had the top genin, the jinchuuriki, and a prissy little civilian girl (just so that it wasn't too easy to mold them into unstoppable killing machines, presumably). Besides that, he had a ready-made teaching assistant who couldn't tell him to fuck off, so there was really no reason that his team couldn't have been ready for this test, even if he couldn't be arsed to teach.

He wasn't going to be the one to break it to his genin until he knew for sure, but everyone above chuunin level and their freaking dog now knew that Orochimaru had been spotted in the forest of death… there were only so many reasons a man of his caliber might be interested in genin.

Since both Hyuuga in the crowd had showed up with all eyes present and intact (there had practically been a palpable sense of jounin counting eyeballs), as well as every other clan heir entered… well. Either the interest was in someone from one of the other villages (unlikely, a man like Orochimaru would have easily snatched them off the road and had a grudge against Konoha besides) or he had been looking for the red-eyed shit or the jinchuuriki.

A plan for his lone student in the finals in place and the others scheduled to meet for training tomorrow anyways, he made his way across town using the rooftops. He'd never given two shits about protocol, so Sarutobi didn't even bother to scold him for using the window.

"How nice to see you. Did you come to talk about something?" The old man didn't look up from his papers.

He didn't mince words. "What happened with that alert last night? Did Orochimaru get caught? And was Kakashi's team involved?"

His father sighed, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. "You know I can't gossip, Asuma. But as for your other question, we have not taken Orochimaru into custody. Hence why the alert is still active."

Asuma didn't bother to say goodbye, shunshin-ing to Kakashi's apartment. Ninja were nosy. It was part of the job description. He was of the opinion that you could never have too much information on a situation when the situation was that an S-class lunatic with a history of abducting clan members was in your village, even if you didn't have a team of three ankle-biter clan heirs to keep track of.

Hatake wasn't home, but apparently Gai had come to the same idea. The two men exchanged glances.

"My rival has not been seen since yesterday."

Asuma grunted. "The old man wouldn't talk about him or his team, so I'm pretty sure they got caught up with whatever happened in the forest yesterday."

Gai hmmd. "The hospital, then? We can see if he or, more likely, any of his youthful students have been checked in."

The thin-faced woman at the front desk didn't know anything about Kakashi, was tight-lipped about the Uchiha brat, but couldn't keep from scowling when asked if the jinchuuriki was in the hospital. Thoroughly tired of her shit, Asuma sauntered past, ready to search room by room. He headed to the second wing first- general admissions for mission sustained trauma. Gai caught up him, looking unduly guilty about slipping past the cranky civilian, but too worried for his friend to let the opportunity pass.

Asuma didn't really give two shits about Hatake himself- he was a comrade, yes, one he would fight and die for if it was required but otherwise didn't know, but he was more interested in what information the guy probably had. Gai, on the other hand, was probably Hatake's only real friend (and vice versa). They were both cripplingly awkward (_as geniuses tend to be_, Asuma had thought once) in completely opposite ways but they managed to patch together a friendship out of an endless competition over nothing. It was cute, in a way that was also setting new criteria for causing debilitating depression.

That in mind, he kept his mouth shut until they found a room with 'Uzumaki' on the paper outside the door. The blonde wasn't in his bed, but a quick check of the bed in the attached section behind the curtain revealed three out of Kakashi's four puppies cuddled up in bed, asleep.

Until they walked in, that was. The little redhead's eyes flipped open and she gave them both a dark look. If she hadn't been trapped under boy limbs, the chit might have gotten up. "What do you want?"

"How hip!" Gai somehow boomed in a hospital appropriate volume that still made Asuma cringe and the black-haired boy in the bed grumble in his drug-induced sleep, calming when his female teammate set a hand on his back.

"We're looking for Kakashi." No point in beating around the bush. It looked like Orochimaru hadn't had Uchiha or jinchuuriki on the menu after all- they were both breathing and in Konoha, so that was good. Worries assuaged, Asuma raised a hand in farewell. "Tell him we stopped by, hmm?" He left a few leaves flittering to the ground when he transported out.

Gai stayed, on the other hand. "Do you know where my most youthful rival can be found?" His dark eyes were uncharacteristically serious.

The girl bit her lower lip, which crackled with dried blood. "Wherever he goes when he needs to self-flagellate, I suppose. No doubt he's convinced himself that it's his fault an S-class criminal infiltrated an exam that his students were otherwise prepared for."

Gai frowned. "I had heard of this most cowardly deed, but not why."

A tiny thumb pointed at the sleeping brunette. "He put some sort of seal on Sasuke's neck through a hickey of death, tried to feed Naruto to a snake, and ri- (a quick breath) – killed Sakura. I think he just rolled into town to fuck over team 7, basically."

The jounin winced, both at the bad news and the cavalier way the girl tried to deliver it. Someone less familiar with the evasive tactics his rival employed whenever emotions reared their ugly head might have thought the girl was cold. He knew better. His rival had apparently managed to teach the girl more than just jutsu. It was a shame.

"I am sorry to hear that." He maintained a low, solemn tone. "I will deliver one hundred flowers to her home." He left off a condition for failing.

"Actually, that's a lovely idea," the girl said quietly. "Could I help? I think I like the idea of planting living flowers for her better, though. A little less ephemeral." He winced. Good point.

"Of course. Thank you for sharing this information, Aiko-chan. I will continue my search for my eternal rival."

"Did you check the stone?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. I had thought that he might still be caught up in current events. Goodbye."

Aiko yawned into the room where she was now the only person awake._ 'Gai-san is very polite, isn't he? I wonder why we've never been properly introduced. He knew who I was.'_

With a night's worth of sleep and several conscious hours to process information, she was feeling much more like herself. It took her a while to delicately untangle herself from the pile of sleeping boys but she managed, quirking a tiny smile at how they murmured and readjusted to cuddle each other once she was out of the bed. She didn't know when Naruto had crawled in, but all three of them had probably needed the human contact. That didn't mean that the boys wouldn't be horrified to wake up without her as a barrier from each other's cooties, of course.

She took a moment to hope that a nurse caught them so someone else could see how adorable they were, and another to hope that Kakashi had forgotten her little panic attack last night. It had been a stupid reaction. She didn't even like Sakura, after all, and her death had not been Aiko's fault.

The redhead physically bit the tip of her tongue to keep from savaging her lip any further. In lieu of thinking, she sauntered out of the room and down the immaculate, empty hallway.

'_The terminology isn't exactly right, but is the 'plot' fucked over without Sakura? Was she really so important?'_ The hospital passed in a blur and became a damp, chill morning. She absently noticed that she had forgotten to put on her boots. _'I might have to take her place. Or am I thinking about this in the wrong way. Clearly, I can't assume things will turn out like the manga. My knowledge is useless, except as information about people's personalities and motives… even that can be subject to change.'_

Aiko grimaced.

_'Fuck. This is all so messed up_.'

* * *

As it turned out, her sensei did not conveniently forget about her panic attack. She was scheduled for a meeting with a combat psych specialist. It was an irritating waste of time and Aiko bluffed her way through it, being at least sane enough to know the right answers even if they weren't honest ones. Yes, she was grieving. It had been a shock. No, Haruno-san had not been a particularly close friend, but it had been the first time she had seen a dead comrade. She was anxious to serve her village.

And so on.

It must have gone well enough, because she didn't get forced back for another one, unlike both of the boys. They were both years overdue for mental assessments, if she were to be honest.

She hadn't seen her sensei since he'd left the hospital less than 24 hours ago, but she had been cleared to return to training and the active lists after her evaluation. With her teammates still waiting to be cleared and her teacher missing, Aiko was working alone in training ground seven when Ino trotted up, dragging Rock Lee of all the people. She eyed the odd couple warily- Ino seemed pleased with herself and as if she was plotting, but that was normal. The boy behind her appeared to be missing half his eyebrows and had the vaguely concussed look she associated with people who had recently been subjected to the full force of Ino's personality for the first time.

_'They seem like two people who would conflict. An unstoppable force and an immovable object, really.'_

"Hello Ino, Rock-san." She gave them half her attention, working on her aim flipping kunai behind her into her blind spot.

"We're looking for Forehead Girl," Ino brusquely interrupted. Aiko winced. The other girl frowned, an expression Aiko could hear in her voice. "What's that weird look for?"

Aiko ran a hand through her hair, feeling stressed and not wanting to be the one to share the news. Why wouldn't someone have told the girl's yearmates already? It had been almost two days since …

'_Nothing for it, I suppose_.'

"I thought everyone knew. Sakura's dead."

Lee swallowed, hard. His jaw worked soundlessly.

"That's not funny, Aiko." Ino's expression was blank, but her eyes seemed to be pleading Aiko to claim it was all just a bad joke.

She shook her head at the pale-faced genin in front of her. "No, it isn't. The boys are still in the hospital. They ran into… Well. Someone way out of our league took the test as an opportunity to get to Sasuke." Wordlessly, she turned back to slamming kunai into her target. When she next checked, she was alone again.

* * *

Wherever he was hiding, Kakashi was doing a damn good job of it. No one seemed to know where he was. Aiko had apparently been elected to be the deliverer of bad news for all of fucking Konoha, so when no one else would clue Sasuke in she told him what she knew of his curse mark.

His reaction made her think that he might not be leaving Konoha, or at least not for Orochimaru. Sasuke had scowled, digging his short nails into the mark as if he wanted to scratch the skin off. If this was the same curse mark depicted in her foreknowledge, then they might have changed things by getting the seal over it before it had a chance to totally flood his chakra system overnight. So far, he hadn't activated it.

Naruto had been creepily quiet ever since he woke up, clinging to both Aiko and a reluctant Sasuke (who had apparently gotten out all of the feelings in one go and would no longer tolerate them).

She desperately wanted an adult to come in and take care of things. It was a strange impulse, considering that she was an adult in more than one way.

No one did, though. In fact, the day of Sakura's funeral (a closed affair the Haruno parents had absolutely forbid any ninja from attending) she was called to the Sandaime's office and introduced to a distant cousin, a red-eyed girl who would apparently be staying with her and Naruto for the foreseeable future.

Seeing Karin was a bit of a shock. It was hard to imagine that anything she had done would change the world this much—Karin had certainly never defected to Konoha in the anime. It certainly clinched her belief that her foreknowledge was effectively useless.

"I don't want her here," Naruto scowled as soon as he had gotten away from their new housemate, sounding very much unlike himself. "We don't need anyone else."

With a sigh, Aiko pulled her brother into a one-armed hug in their bedroom while the older girl bedded down for the night on the couch. "Naruto, I know you're hurting right now and it's not good timing, but we're all the family she's ever known. You wouldn't leave her all alone, would you? Imagine if I'd never had you. That's what it's always been like for her."

Her otouto sighed, hanging his head. "It just… it feels like she's trying to replace Sakura-chan."

Karin was alright- surprisingly intelligent and not nearly as whiny as Aiko would have predicted. She was strangely shy, though. The girl sleeping on the futon in her front room was a year older than her, and remarkably underskilled for someone who had attended an international chuunin exam. Naruto wanted nothing to do with her, possibly seeing her as some sort of Sakura replacement.

Aiko was more practical about it, however. She knew that Karin actually had a fair bit of potential, despite her current weakness- the Uzumaki stamina and totally unparalled sensing abilities could help Konoha out in the future. That in mind, she spent a fair bit of time training with the girl. This served double purposes—Karin was more than eager to explore a familial connection and was obviously a lonely little girl. She had only spent two nights with the twins before the Hokage called Aiko to check in.

"Tell me, Aiko-chan. How is Karin-chan adjusting to life in Konoha?"

Aiko kept a stiff back, knowing that this was an unofficial mission report of sorts. There was probably a good reason the girl had been put under direct supervision of an active duty nin, after all. "She seems emotionally invested in obtaining a relationship with myself and to a lesser extent, Naruto. I think that she can feel the Kyuubi through her sensing abilities and that it frightens her, but she has yet to comment. Karin appears to have little loyalty to Grass itself, but that does not mean she doesn't have a loyalty to someone from Grass. My assessment is that we can put a reasonable amount of trust in her at this moment, but that it would be unwise to give her access to sensitive information or increase her combat ability drastically."

"Hmm." Sarutobi eyed her harshly, and then gave a sigh. "Continue monitoring her. I want both of you to report to training field 1 tomorrow. She will be inducted into our force as a genin if she passes an assessment, and will report to the hospital for basic training as a field medic after psych evaluation by a Yamanaka. She will still be under your supervision." He scrawled a signature on a paper, and then handed it to her. "Bring that tomorrow. Dismissed."

Karin easily passed the assessment and gave her new headband on the standard blue a long, strange look before she tied it around her forehead. Aiko companionably nudged the other girl with a shoulder. "Doesn't she look nice with that, Iruka-sensei?"

The chuunin smiled, marking the last of his evaluation and signing it. "Karin-chan looks very nice indeed. I'm almost sorry I can't claim you were one of my students. I would be proud of any student with mastery over such a unique technique. You'll be a credit to Konoha, Karin-chan."

Aiko tried not to snigger at just how red the other girl went. _'Puppy crush? Iruka-sensei is pretty damn cute, if he's never yelled at you.'_

"T-thank you," she squeaked, fiddling with her brown glasses. "What now, Iruka-san?"

He scanned his files. "Well, it looks like the Hokage seems to think you'll do well as a field medic to complement your existing abilities as a support specialist. You report for introductory training tomorrow afternoon at the lower level of the hospital. If you do well in that class, you will be assigned a mentor." He paused for a moment. "I would suggest that you remember to work on your combat skillset as well," he sheepishly cautioned. "There's a bit of a tendency to let those skills stagnate when a medic starts training."

"Don't worry," Aiko chimed in, easily faking a light hearted attitude. "I won't let her get russsssty."

Indignant, Karin jabbed an elbow into her gut when Iruka was looking away. "Thank you again!" She bowed, allowing her short red hair to flip over her face in a move that sent a light cloud of perfumed air floating. Aiko twitched.

_'She's wearing way too much perfume for a ninja_.'

Aiko tucked her hands into the pockets of her long tunic. "We need to look into getting a new place," she remarked. "A one bedroom apartment isn't going to cut it for three teenagers."

Karin gave a tentative smile, one hand skimming over the cool metal of her protector. "Sounds fine to me. I've never had my own place before."

The place they ended up finding the very next day (a good ninja doesn't waste time, Karin reminded Naruto when he sulked) was an actual house on the outskirts of town almost to the great walls, not another apartment. It was traditionally styled and had a lot of floor space that was easily converted into a four bedroom home with a kitchen, sitting room and lounge. Aiko had to grimace at the damage the house payment did to her nest egg—despite thinking she had a ton of money saved, there wasn't enough to take care of all the expenses she wanted. She was the only one with a significant amount of saved money- Karin had essentially nothing, and Naruto had only ever worked D-class missions and the one fluke A class. They moved over the crappy old furniture with Sasuke's reluctant help, with the plan of replacing it for nicer furnishings when they could.

She hadn't seen any of her usual associates since the disaster of the second exam—Kakashi had apparently slunk back onto the ANBU rolls without a word, Anko had taken some long-term mission out of the village, and Ino was nowhere to be found.

Gai kept his word from the hospital, however, and three days after the funeral he showed up toting Lee and an enormous assortment of seedlings for a garden. Sakura's parents refused to have it on their property—they blamed the ninja for getting their daughter killed and actually declared that they planned to move out of Konoha, taking their business with them. Iwa would probably welcome them with open arms.

They made the entire front yard of the new Uzumaki home into Sakura's garden, mostly because there was nowhere else to put it. Naruto must have talked to Ino because she showed up in ratty old gardening clothes that somehow still looked designer and directed the layout with a slightly subdued but still bossy mien. Sasuke slouched up about a minute before they started and deigned to help by digging.

The project was cathartic, even though they were a motley crew. Karin had fussed around, not quite comfortable where she knew she was an outsider. Ino had a long history of adopting lost little ducklings, however, and she pulled the other girl in with a good facsimile of her usual flippant grace.

It was then that Aiko learned that Ino had accidentally adopted Lee, too. She wasn't sure if she was amused or horrified when it came out that after Lee had totally outclassed her at the chuunin exams, Ino had proposed that if he would train with her she would help him be fashionable and then taken his reflexive thumbs-up as agreement before he'd had a chance to explain that he loved his jumpsuit and bowlcut.

Ino was probably regretting that deal- she looked exhausted and couldn't move without cringing. Lee looked about the same. The unstoppable force of Ino's personality had been at least temporarily stymied by Lee's immovable conviction of youth.

She was probably going to regret having a permanent memorial to someone she hadn't particularly liked but had inadvertently killed in her front yard, but at least it was beautiful.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, I need a mission. I haven't run one in months and I'm supporting a household of three… one of which you dumped on me," she added, tone slipping from its respectful beginning to a slightly resentful address.

The ANBU standing in the doorway gave a glare she could practically feel through his cat shaped mask and the back of her shirt, but the Sandaime only nodded. "That's fine, Aiko-chan. I'm sure I can find something. But as you say, Karin-chan is in your care. How do you propose to do that while out of the village?"

She frowned. "Unless you want me to retire, I can't always be with her anyways. Not if she's going to be reporting to the hospital daily. Otherwise I would take her with me."

"I think a short field mission under your command with Sasuke and Naruto-kun would not harm her progress overmuch," he commented lightly. "and increase the household income." Wrinkles formed in his forehead as he frowned. His next thought was mused to himself more than shared for her to comment on. "Then again, it seems risky to take the Uchiha out of the village without at least a jounin to ensure his safety when we know he is being hunted." He gave a long sigh. "On second thought, that mission is out. I will send a directive to the hospital ensuring that Karin-chan gets onto the payroll starting tomorrow. She can help out around as part of her internship. Naruto…" He smiled fondly. "I think he would appreciate training more than the safe, in village missions. With Kakashi-kun preoccupied, I think I will have him and Uchiha-kun report to Asuma for team training temporarily, so they do not lack guidance."

She shifted her stance slightly, the only indication that she was anxious for the conclusion of his long train of thought. It was good that he had addressed everyone else who mattered, but she really just wanted to know about her next mission.

"Wait a moment."

The old man shuffled through his files, mumbling "no, not that one, no, no…" and flipping through pile after pile of the far too abundant paperwork. "I have a two-man chuunin team you can be temporarily reassigned to, heading to one of the outlier villages to investigate complaints of missing nin in the area. Supposedly they've been running roughshod."

* * *

ANBU dog (and he was dog now, it hurt too much to be Hatake Kakashi) led his small pack through Rice Country in search of the target. This mission -delivering a single message to an ally- was a bit of a joke, but speed was critical.

The only person who could help his kid with that seal was currently drinking and whoring his way on a never-ending circuit through the Elemental Nations in search of information and something that dulled the ache of years of failure. Dog could sympathize, though he self-medicated that pain differently.

The man in question was found balls-deep in a petite redhead with long, silver fingernails and matching paint over her closed eyelids. From the door, Dog idly watched those nails trace delicate red lines down the Toad Sage's back and wondered when the man would be done. He was an older man, after all. Another few minutes at most.

The couple didn't react to his silent entry, but the older man almost certainly sensed his presence. Dog didn't leave, knowing damn well that if he turned away there was a good chance Jiraiya would slip away instead of accepting the summons to Konoha. If he didn't get the orders then he could hardly be considered in defiance of them, after all.

After the whore had tied shut her pink yukata, she gave both the men a plastic, businesslike smile and left the room. She was professional… He had almost expected her to be surprised when she noticed him.

Whores and ninja had a lot more in common than conventional thought held. Her job was probably harder—she couldn't wear a literal mask to hide her distaste. He cheated, as did his little kohai.

He moaned and groaned and tried to coax Dog and his two subordinates into going out for drinks (especially the curvy one), but Jiraiya eventually sulkily gave in and read the missive… and then gave Dog a genuinely sympathetic look. "Lost your first student, eh?" He clapped Dog on the back with enough force to make even a grown man who happened to be an elite jounin fault forward. "You're fooling yourself, you need a drink far more than I".

ANBU kitty cat (he hated that name, but Dog's first kohai really was more of a kitty cat than a cat) shifted uncomfortably in a way that implied he hadn't known what the Toad Sage just shared. Their third member, ANBU gecko didn't so much as twitch. She'd always been good. Or maybe she was just too high to care. As long as she did her job, Dog would not investigate whether or not his subordinates were self medicating. Most ANBU did after a few months in the force.

"Fine, don't reply. See if you ever get a signed copy of anything again."

If he had been being Kakashi and not Dog, that might have pained him. It would later when he was a man again. Dog didn't read really excellent novels of high romance, great adventures, clever protagonists and heroines who were self-sufficient but obligingly helpless in the face of things like spiders and Mist nin (about the same threat level in the novel's context, a jab that had nearly started a war) so that the clever protagonist could be rewarded with…

He ducked his chin slightly so that his cool porcelain mask pressed down on his nose, keeping blood from escaping and signaled his team that it was time to go.

Kami help him, those kids would probably be better off if they never saw him again, but he still wanted to get back and make sure he hadn't totally failed Minato sensei and Obito (and what kind of person was he, that if he'd had to choose from his four students, he might have made the choice Orochimaru made for him?)

Speaking of students, his second kohai was going to be absolutely furious with him. She was unhealthily dependant on him, a fact that he was hyper aware of and made uncomfortable by.

They would be better off without him. It was time for them to find new sensei, sensei who wouldn't get them killed. Naruto was his father's shade in walking, talking, vivid color and Jiraiya was a sentimental man. Getting him a teacher would be no trouble. And he knew plenty of other jounin whose lives he had saved at some point or other. Surely one or two of them could take on an exceptionally talented student.

* * *

Omake from Timeskip

"I can't believe you're leaving me here," Aiko all but wailed to her sensei. "I want to go with you."

"Toughen up," he replied, idly examining the exit points of their cheap hotel room in a backwater village located conveniently close to Cloud. She would have sworn that she saw his lips curl up into a smile under his mask at that moment, but she was too busy moping to tease him for it.

"Isn't it your job to nurture me and turn me into a beautiful flower of Konoha?" she half-seriously demanded, referencing Gai's philosophy in an attempt to really lay down the guilt. "How are you going to nurture me if you leave me here to take care of your super secret secondary mission?"

He hmmed. "Is that why all my plants die?"

The look she gave in response to that was aghast.

"Orders, Aiko. I'll be back in a few hours. Trap the hotel room and stay up until I return. If you get kidnapped by big scary civilian thugs, try to leave a trail of candy for me to follow." He flickered away before she could reply, leaving his student choking on chakra smoke.

Her eyes narrowed. "Fine."

Her first plan was to trap the room so thoroughly that he would be caught in them when he returned. She quickly discarded that stupid plan because even if he wandered in with his eyes closed and a concussion, bleeding from his ears and temporarily deafened, she only calculated she had at best a 6% chance of getting him. The odds that he would fall into a harmless trap to humor her were slightly better, but she didn't want his pity.

Instead, she stripped both beds and called down to the front desk with an entire list of demands. She phrased it much more cutely than that.

A little while later inside her recently constructed pillow fort, she carefully arranged the bounty of candy and baked goods she had taken from an amused maid, tucking a cold can of soda between her knees so she didn't knock it over.

Only then did she trap the room, using such a diverse set of materials as senbon, wire, the tv guide, and a bottle of hairspray primed to spray into someone's face, preferably the eyes. She killed time reading through the book she had brought—it turned out that henging into a rather nondescript older man made it easy to purchase the forbidden Icha Icha series.

She had instead chosen to henge into the Hokage and worn a comically bad disguise. Because fuck that guy.

The plot really wasn't half bad, although Anko had definitely been right… Jiraiya was a bit of a sissy romantic. She didn't skip those parts, though. They were often relevant to the plot. Aiko had just learned that the blue-haired hottie with the killer abs was in fact an ANBU from an unnamed village in water country suffering from amnesia when a familiar chakra signature pulsed politely outside the door, as if asking her to disarm anything lethal. Aiko hurriedly marked her place and tucked the novel into her knapsack, hiding it by tucking it under her panties. No way would sensei look under those, even if he did suspect she had contraband.

When her sensei's masked face poked through the door after his mysterious five hours excursion lightly splattered with someone else's blood, she was gratified to see genuine confusion in his one visible eye. "We're having a sleepover," Aiko informed, as if that explained everything. He had probably never seen such an impressive pillow fort. Perhaps he even thought it was overkill to use both mattresses and every piece of bedding, but if she hadn't then he would have just gone to sleep and ignored her.

He just stared.

She summoned up big, teary eyes from her reserves. He wouldn't be fooled, but sensei appreciated the effort she put into emotional manipulation and usually rewarded the attempts. Her lower lip extended just a bit, and she 'unintentionally' curled her legs in and pointed her toes together like a silly baby bird, hugged her cupcake to her chest and channeled as much cuteness as possible.

"Right."

The door to the bathroom slammed behind him and the shower started up only a few minutes later. Humming, Aiko peeled a row of chocolates in preparation for his return and crawled out just enough to turn on a movie about a young witch moving to a big city with her snarky cat.


	16. Chapter 16

In the week before the tournament of the Chuunin exam, Aiko felt the old worry overwhelming her again. Naruto had finally settled down and stopped sniping at Karin and both boys had been calmed by a combination of therapy and mind-numbing workouts that left them too tired to dwell on much. The other redhead had slipped into Konoha like she had always been there—fighting tooth and nail with Ino over who looked better in purple, becoming Aiko's ally against Naruto's bad moods, and developing shocking proficiency in her work at the hospital. Aiko was starting to get royally pissed at her sensei, however. He hadn't so much as shown his face in almost three weeks.

She didn't feel like she had enough allies for what was about to happen (if it did happen). It didn't seem that she could have changed anything big enough to make Orochimaru abandon the invasion plan, but then it hadn't seemed like she could have possibly influenced him to kill Sakura just by getting Anko to the group slightly faster.

All she could do was polish her kunai, restock her poisons (she had added one to coat the tips of her senbon) and tie her headband on in the morning, staring at her face in the mirror. The girl looking back at her looked calm and self-assured, red hair curling rather riotously around her face (she'd slept with it wet). It seemed strange to her, not for the first time, that she was one of the tallest in her age group when her brother was the shortest. The gap between them seemed very real when she could tease him by tucking her chin over his head when they hugged.

But it was very possible that he was the only person who could save Konoha from Gaara.

"What a joke," she muttered bitterly, tearing her eyes away from her reflection and brushing her teeth before she went to wake up her housemates. Karin had a shift at the hospital, but Naruto would be going to watch the tournament with her. The boys had been remarkably… well, not bitter at all about not getting to participate in the tournament. Doubtlessly that would have been very different if the reason wasn't that Sakura hadn't made it through the forest. They probably would have split apart as a team if Sasuke thought that he had one of them to blame for ruining his chances at advancement.

_'Dying was probably the best thing she ever did for team spirit.'_

The stadium was packed- and why the hell did a ninja village have a building like this, anyways? Sasuke seemed equally uncomfortable with the crowded space.

The opening match was surprisingly exciting, considering that Shikamaru was in it. Quite possibly on threat of bodily harm from Ino, he methodically humiliated Kankuro with careless ease. The constant name-calling and heckling from the audience seemed to put the puppeteer off his game, as well as the fact that Shikamaru slapped said puppet with exploding tags on the very first hit and let the explosion of splinters that resulted speak for itself. Deprived of his primary weapon, he almost certainly would have lost even if Ino wasn't gunning for his blood.

Konoha continued to overwhelm—in the next round Shino casually drained the kunoichi from Rain with an insect planted before the match even began and left her in a limp pile on the floor, before she even had a chance to employ a single jutsu. The match was as quick as it was silent.

The next round was one of the ones that she had been nervous about… Lee was very good, and didn't have a particular disadvantage in the match up. Still, Temari was highly skilled as well and vicious besides. She managed to keep him at bay with swirling winds likely perfected just for this match- seeing his speed and strength in the preliminaries would have made almost anyone wary of letting him within arm's reach.

She'd probably never know who was the stronger opponent. Lee wavered and fell to his knees when a cloud of white feathers fluttered down, catching most of the stadium in genjutsu thrall.

"Kai!" Aiko snapped, shaking her brother's shoulder until the glazed look snapped out of his eyes. Sasuke had shaken it off just as easily as she did, though he looked confused.

"W-what?" The blonde turned his head, taking in the sleeping spectators… and the foreign shinobi who coasted among them like ghosts, perforating throats methodically in the split seconds before the Konoha nin who had thrown off the genjutsu gathered their wits and leapt to battle. Sasuke snarled and leapt at a lone nin two rows below who was raising a blade to a group of sleeping Academy students. She would have gone to help him, if another group hadn't drawn her attention at that moment.

A team of Oto nin who had just dismissed the illusions hiding them as civilian spectators were coming in hot, the kunoichi in the lead clearly out to get the two nin who were awake. Aiko leapt off the seat, kunai in her right hand and joined battle with a clash of steel, rabbit fast punches with her left to the brunette's abdomen and twisted her armed hand under the other girls' guard into a follow-up swipe that split her face from left jaw to her right eye. The screaming was terrible but short—she smoothly severed the spinal cord at the base of the girl's head when the unwary kunoichi reflexively jerked her face forward and exposed the neck.

Almost instantly, she twisted away into the path of one of the other two nin, pausing immediately behind him before he caught up with what had just happened and managed a quick, deep jab into the tender flesh of the boy's lower back, piercing his kidney. He went down, so she didn't bother to finish him before she whipped around to face the third genin (and they appeared to be genin, only suitable for killing sleeping opponents, pathetic). She was pleased to note that Naruto had regained his senses and managed a kunai toss that the older boy barely dodged, easily adjusting for the attempt at evasive movement and cleanly snapping his neck. Naruto panted from shock, wild-eyed. "What's going on!"

_'Sad that he's looking to me for direction. Kakashi-sensei, you asshole. You're supposed to be the one to send us after Gaara. Where are you? I can make the call myself, but I might get in trouble for it later if this goes south.'_

She let none of that appear on her face, taking a moment to check on the positions of the people she knew. The three sand genin were fleeing out an open hole in the stadium side towards the village center, Tenten and Lee taking up pursuit. She didn't see their third teammate—oh no, he was with Gai on the upper deck. "It appears that Sand and Sound have betrayed us."

Sasuke flickered to her side, dark eyes full of violence. "Cowards. We should show them what real nin can do," he spat.

Aiko assessed the situation, knowing what she had to do but also worried about leaving all the sleeping Konoha citizens. Someone else had already noted that problem, apparently. Team Ten was flipping around the stadium disabling the genjutsu to free anyone unwary enough to be caught, their sensei guarding their backs with a grim expression and twin blades.

"Come on." She leapt easily to the stadium floor, dodging fights in the straightest path to the outside she could manage. Her two subordinates followed, although they didn't seem to understand.

"Gaara of the Sand and his team immediately ran out toward the village center, as if they were just waiting for a signal. Whatever they're meant to do is bound to be a big problem, and there's only two genin going after them that I saw. We are providing assistance. Sasuke, if it is necessary your preferred target is the girl. She's the oldest and probably the most intelligent of the three, but you're fast and strong enough to get behind her wind jutsu." The boy nodded, a business like expression plastered to his features. "I think Gaara is the biggest threat. I will aim to have Cat-face removed from the fight immediately so that I can provide assistance to you, Naruto."

"H-hai, Aiko-neechan."

It was a damn shame that none of them were trackers by trade, but at least Tenten had left what appeared to be a metaphorical breadcrumb trail of scattered weaponry for them to follow. The first fight they found was Lee and Kankuro, which made her orders practically useless—before the boy even knew they were there, Aiko flickered forward and caught the hatred and fear in his gaze in the instant before she hit his head with enough force to shatter bone. He instantly lost consciousness.

Aiko frowned, mildly worried that she had hit him too hard. She had intended to leave the Sand siblings alive if at all possible, knowing that they could become valuable allies. She rolled him into a recovery position, stripped him of weaponry and was done before Sasuke finished tying his hands behind his back with wire.

'_Smart kid, I didn't even ask him to help.'_

The whole encounter took about ten seconds from start to finish.

"Hello, Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san, and Uzumaki-san again! Have you come to help?" Lee seemed surprisingly relaxed that she had just barged in on his fight, so she gave him a rare smile.

"Hai, Lee-san. We should catch up to your teammate. I know that she is skilled, but two on one is poor odds."

He didn't offer any protests, easily joining the group. "Do you know what they're doing," Aiko half-yelled over the sounds of wind rushing as they attempted to catch up.

The tall boy shook his head, eyes busy cataloging whatever story the spray of senbon on an oak they passed told. "No, but Tenten seemed adamant that they were up to no good! Gai-sensei and my eternal rival stayed to provide assistance to the Hokage's guards, but we were ordered to follow." She could hear the frown in his voice. "I do not like the looks of that redheaded boy, Uzumaki-san. He is most unkind."

_'That's a bit of an understatement.'_

"We're close," Sasuke rasped, dark eyes narrowing.

* * *

Karin fought the urge to shrink into the wall, away from the insanity that had just erupted in the hospital where she was just starting to feel at home (in a good way, not like Grass). Something had gone terribly wrong in the village. They didn't have any information yet, but the sudden influx of patients and the hostile nin roaming the halls were pretty big clues.

She squeaked involuntarily at the unmistakable fluttering chakra that signified fighting down the corridor to the long-term ward (and wasn't that strange, new admissions were obviously being brought to emergency), red eyes searching for friendly faces. The experienced nurses and iryo-nin had leapt into battle, literal and metaphorical, and she had yet to be trained in triage or emergency procedures.

_'I'm a kunoichi,_' she reminded herself firmly. '_If I can't help medically, I can fight!_'

That in mind, she sprinted full-pace towards the disturbance she had noted. What she saw shocked her. The face-off was between a short, brunette kunoichi with casts on both arms and a sneering man wearing a Sound headband. It was really more of the kunoichi using her arms as guards to prevent the man from getting close enough to knock her unconscious, as seemed to be his aim. If he had been intending to kill her, he would have already.

She took stock of her situation in the long instant before either of the fighters noticed her presence. Karin was not carrying any traditional weaponry. For some reason, Konoha just wasn't comfortable with having a trainee who had become a citizen about a week ago armed around unconscious soldiers, a point she had understood. Her taijutsu was poor. Her phenomenal sensing skills were useless—she already knew he was there. She had a clipboard in her left hand and a pen in her front pocket. On the other hand, the man was distracted by another opponent and she had endured so much anatomy being drilled into her head in the past three weeks that she could think of any number of ways to kill him with the clipboard.

The choice was pretty easy. She leapt into close range, used the clipboard to deflect his first hit, and slipped out the pen, clicking it reflexively and forcing it directly into the gap of the man's clavicles and jerking it back just as soon so that it didn't stopper the hole. Blood spray formed an impromptu fountain that she side-stepped to avoid, somewhat unsuccessfully.

The Sound-nin gargled pathetically, falling to his knees as Karin examined her front and grimaced. "Ugh gross." She flipped her hair, trying to keep the tips dry. "This shirt is ruined." The white medic's coat hadn't done much to protect her adorable lacy tanktop.

The girl she had saved shuddered, big wide lavender eyes focused on the man dying on the crappy linoleum floor of her hospital room.

"You're welcome," she said pointedly, considering slipping off the soggy top and fighting in her bra. The feeling of blood-soaked cloth drying against her skin was one she both hated and was intimately familiar with.

The other girl bowed hastily, a bizarre bit of formality in her already weird day. "Thank you, kunoichi-san! I woke up, and that man was here. Do you know what is happening?"

Karin sighed, considering taking her emergency blade out of her glasses just so that she wasn't totally unarmed, dropping the broken pen idly. "Not a clue. I'm just a trainee here. No one seems to know, but there's a whole lot of injured coming in suddenly, as well as Sound and Sand shinobi roaming the halls." She frowned, remembering something about Sound. "You have a bloodline, then?"

At the other girl's squeak, she scowled. "Figures. That makes sense. They're looking to make off with examples of Konoha's bloodlines while the main forces are distracted. You want to help guard the sleeping patients?" Karin industriously smashed a glass drinking vessel while she talked, pocketing the more promising looking shards.

The other girl looked shame-faced and red. "I… I'm not a good shinobi," she all but whispered, looking like she was confessing to being a drug lord or something instead of unskilled.

Karin merely snorted. "Me either, but that doesn't mean it's any less important for you to try. You can watch my back—even with two broken arms your taijutsu is better than mine, and I'm basically unarmed." She started out the door without another word. "You can't stay here, they'll probably come for you again. Your name is on the door, isn't it?"

Feeling a little overwhelmed but still the dutiful daughter of Konoha, Hyuuga Hinata glanced at her own name on the door as she passed by, running to catch up to the strange girl who talked so quickly. Better than being alone, she supposed. She carefully didn't look back at the room where she had spent a month, with the depressing artwork of a fruit bowl and the one vase of wilted flowers on the windowsill.

* * *

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," Aiko chanted, dodging pillars of sand from a distracted but still deadly jinchuuriki, trying not to have an absolute fit and succumb to the combined fear of her opponent and of the three fucking massive snakes wearing **BIBS** (sick and hilarious) that had just crashed the party about a half-mile away at the gate. A snake you could see from a half-mile away was a terrible snake.

Not that she had a fondness for snakes in general. They creeped her out when they moved. Stationary snakes are A-okay. But the wiggling…

She shuddered, feeling desperation slide over her mind. Gaara was quickly transitioning to his jinchuuriki form. Naruto in jinchuuriki mode was about their only chance of defeating him, and he had never activated it. Tenten had narrowly escaped a maiming blow- actually, all four of the genin fighting with her had been extraordinarily lucky so far. But any minute now the handicap Gaara was experiencing from the transition would turn into an enormous advantage.

Once they'd felt that monstrous chakra, Temari had given up on slowing them down and made a run for it, clearly terrified of her brother but reluctant to go too far from his side. It was sad, really. The girl was currently hanging back and observing the fight with nerves that led her to bite already short nails—Temari probably didn't even know what outcome she was hoping for.

She couldn't imagine being frightened of her brother but still determined to make sure he was safe. Being frightened for Naruto was quite stressful enough.

"Naruto!" she yelled over the noise of the fight. "You need the kyuubi's chakra, now! He's using the one-tailed demon's power."

Tenten and Sasuke both gave her sharp looks, Lee seemed too involved in the fight to spare her a thought, and Naruto looked determined… but definitely not connected to the Kyuubi.

Her heart felt like it hit the bottom of her stomach. _'Think, stupid girl. He first activated it in canon when he thought Sasuke was dead, secondly when he thought Sakura was in lethal danger. He accesses the chakra either through anger or protective anger, specifically. I need to make him mad._' She grimaced. This was going to hurt.

Aiko leapt into close range as only Lee had dared so far, dodging fatal-looking attacks and hoping she didn't get killed when Shukaku's creepy eyes focused on her. The grin was even worse than the eyes, in her humble opinion… and up close, the stench of rot and blood from the sand was overwhelming. She fought the urge to gag and flee in equal measure. '_I've never fought an opponent who outclassed me like this before.'_ The thought was not reassuring. As if it wanted to pretend that the fear pressing all around didn't exist, her body reflexively went through the motions for a series of water bullets. _'Let's hope he can't work with mud as well as he does sand.'_ She soaked as much as she could, knowing that the basic jutsu couldn't actually pierce the armor.

'_Please slow down_.' Shukaku wasn't nearly as fast as Lee, but there was a pretty big difference between Lee and other genin, like Naruto. Besides, demons probably don't tire nearly as easily as humans.

She might have been onto something with her use of water, because her move really pissed off the demon. It was hard to register anything beyond the enormous roar that filled the air, but she took the time to notice that the string of sand that grabbed around both her ankles and flung her headfirst into a tree was the smallest amount she'd ever seen him use at one time. She quirked a smile in the instant before the impact knocked her unconscious, coming dangerously close to snapping her neck.

In any other situation, she might have been embarrassed to be caught and carried to a safer distance by one of the genin in her care. Once she awoke, however, and learned that Naruto had flipped a switch into crazy town that had made Sasuke not entirely mind the retreat, she was too relieved to care. She came to consciousness the next day in a hospital bed, bandages over wounds she didn't remember getting and an iv securing her to the bed. She paled, closing her eyes and curling up as much as she could without moving her arm.

She could kill twenty men before breakfast without blinking and had stoically tolerated more than a couple scrapes and stab wounds in her almost three year career, but somehow that little needle still made her want to cry.

A few steady breaths, a conscious steeling of her nerves and she had managed to calm herself to the point where she could pretend not to be disturbed by the needle in the delicate crook of her elbow.

That was lucky, because a tired-looking nurse poked his head in a moment later and took the needle out, droning through the litany of her injuries and treatment recommendations. It was a song and dance she knew well, so she quietly tolerated it, thanked him, and slipped out. She had received all critical treatment while asleep and been cleared of a possible concussion or brain damage, so there was no need to stick around. Besides… she pretended not to see the civilians packed like sardines into treatment rooms on her way out. They could use the extra room.

In triage, shinobi came first, according to rank or social status. How valuable they were, really. It was a shockingly amoral way of treating patients, but she had long ago figured out that what she thought of as morality was altogether foreign from a ninja mindset.

The subdued atmosphere of the village wasn't exactly surprising, but it made even more sense when Aiko first found someone to ask about the situation. The information was a little scattered—the giant snakes she had noted had done a number on the infrastructure, but been fought off by a group of Inuzuka and some very large toads. The Third Hokage was on his deathbed and in a non-responsive coma, all the Academy students and genin teams had been reassigned to manual labor digging for survivors and repairing damages while the bulk of the higher ranked nin went out to patrol the borders to ensure that no one thought to strike at Konoha's weakness. Apparently Sound had done a runner after which Sand had quickly surrendered and their surviving nin were still in the village under supervision.

The rumor that caught her most off guard was the one saying that Orochimaru was dead.

'_How the fuck did that happen? Does this have to do with Jiraiya?_' The inclusion of the toads was the only thing she hadn't half-expected, after all. Aiko didn't know if she wanted to frown or not- it might not be true anyways and she'd be wasting her time thinking about it. Then again, enough people had claimed to see giant toads that it seemed clear Jiraiya was in Konoha for the invasion. She was pretty sure he had not been in canon, though she could be wrong.

It was all rather confusing and not entirely pleasant to wake up to. She was now pretty much like everyone else in this shithole of a village—she had vague fears for the future, suspected that there were monster shinobi out there who would harm her and hers and could only grit her teeth and prepare as best as possible for the upcoming disaster.

Not encouraging.

Unfortunately, it seemed that she could still expect a few unpleasant things from canon. It wasn't until late that night when she went home and found a tired, filthy looking Karin washing yesterday's dishes that she heard Naruto had left the village with Jiraiya while she was unconscious.

"He wanted to wait until you woke, but the nurses didn't know how long it would take," Karin said apologetically, grabbing the entire carton of apple juice of the fridge and gulping it down greedily. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, which Aiko only then realized was shaking.

The two sat down at the table with their thoughts and a carton of juice each. It would usually be dinner time, but neither of them felt up to cooking. It turned out that Karin had been drafted for grunt work at the hospital- changing sheets, bringing around food for patients, refilling coffee for medical nin on the tenth hour of their shift or worse and doing all manner of errands that would usually be an orderly's job.

Aiko stared out the kitchen window, a little bothered that Konoha looked as it always did from her vantage point. Their location on the outskirts of town had been a good selection, apparently. '_So this is what a village in flux looks like.'_ Even without foreknowledge, she would have known that a power struggle was going on somewhere in the village at this moment. She just wouldn't have known that her silly otouto was about to get caught up in it.

* * *

Jiraiya carefully didn't look at his blonde companion when they kitted down for the night. Didn't look at the way those eyes were a dead ringer for Minato's, didn't look at the way that pudgy baby face and those comically short legs screamed 'Kushina', and definitely didn't look at the way his sullen, combative attitude conflicted with everything Sarutobi had told him about the kid.

At least the other kid they had brought along depressed him less. The last Uchiha… what a joke. At that age, Itachi had been an ANBU captain. The child in front of him carried a heavy burden with very little talent.

There was a good possibility that the angst choking the air was a result of the recent death of their teammate and that their teacher had essentially abandoned them in his own grief. Jiraiya was highly qualified to commiserate, but much less so to guide them out of their funk. If he knew how to get over grief and disappointment, he'd be a very different man. Most days, Jiraiya hated himself.

He already knew he was scum for essentially abandoning his godchildren to raise themselves like wild animals, even if it was for the village's sake. Jiraiya certainly didn't need to all but choke on the palpable bitterness wafting off the kid to remember **that** shame and just what Minato would have said about it.

It had been easier, only getting occasional reports. From what Sarutobi had implied, the twins were growing up fine. To hear him tell it, the boy was vivacious and charming, though his sister was the one with sharp wit and sharper skills. He had been warned that the girl was on the verge of paranoia and hostility even by shinobi standards, so he had steeled himself to be harshly questioned when he told the girl he was her godfather she didn't remember meeting.

He hadn't seen that in Konoha, when he stumbled into that hospital room with his old teammate and friend's blood still on his hands and seen that tiny, bruised figure under white sheets. He wasn't seeing Sarutobi's description in this strange, sharp little boy either.

If the girl had been awake, he might have taken Aiko with them. Kami only knows that she couldn't have dragged the atmosphere any further down. The boy's second demand had been his other teammate, but that brat was just as sullen. It was a good idea, though. He hadn't thought of it himself, but the Uchiha was in a similar danger to what Naruto faced in the village.

"So what exactly is this person doing?" Naruto kicked up a clod of dirt with his toes, digging for a firepit. His tone was mostly uninterested. Jiraiya had practically had to carry him bodily out of Konoha to pry him away from his sister's bedside, but it couldn't be helped. It would be insanely stupid to leave him unprotected in the middle of a power vacuum. Danzo would snap him up like the last dumpling. Then he'd have to kill Danzo to get him back, and the village could ill afford that.

Jiraiya awkwardly cleared his throat. "What do you mean, gaki?" Those blue eyes looked at him, annoyed. He had to consciously decide not to look away.

"The woman we are looking for is the next Hokage, right? If she's that powerful, why isn't she in contact with the village?" Those big black eyes and the attached long, thick lashes were dead-on for every female Uchiha he'd ever known. Never seen them on a boy before, though. In two years and in a dress…

Jiraiya winced and forcibly changed his train of thought. "Ah, well. That's a long story, kid. Maybe another time."

Naruto scoffed and turned away, sullen and silent for the rest of the night.

Feeling incredibly depressed- he had killed one of this oldest friends a few hours ago, his teacher was dying alone, all his students were dead, and the boys in front of him were teetering on a dangerous precipice.

"Hey, cheer up kids. Tell you what, I'll teach you each a new jutsu tomorrow. I won't promise either of you knuckleheads can actually master them, though."

Naruto needed that Rasengan anyway. Now was as good a time as any to start passing down his father's masterpiece. He'd been damn disappointed to find out Aiko's chakra affinity was with water, but so much for that. As for the Uchiha… well, fire and lightning weren't his specialties, but he'd be damned if he couldn't scrounge up something that would impress a twelve year old. Even a sourpuss like this one.

* * *

He was on the border of Fire and Wind country when he heard the news. Itachi frowned slightly, suddenly less interested in his dango and tea than he had been a moment ago. At his side, Kisame sucked down plain green tea undisturbed, though he had undoubtedly overheard the same conversation.

Itachi didn't like what he had heard. Not at all. It went beyond even the normal grief a loyal shinobi would have when hearing of their military dictator's imminent death although no one knew he was loyal now, except Danzo, Jiraiya and the council.

And therein lay the extra problem. Sarutobi had promised Itachi with tears in his eyes that he would keep Sasuke safe and fairly healthy, out of the influence of malcontent power mongers like Danzo and the Council. With Sarutobi dead…

The man stood with a tinkle of bells, casually dropping the coin for his uneaten food. "Come, Kisame."

A sigh. "I knew you would say that." Almost eight feet of blue muscle unfolded from the seat next to Itachi's on the bar. "We're going to go put the fear of kami in some poor bastard, aren't we?"

Itachi didn't smile, but he did appreciate his partner's easygoing nature. Not every man would go on a hundred mile detour for the sake of a twelve year old he didn't know. He'd have to pay this one back somehow.

* * *

Author Ramble  
I'm so torn on Itachi and Gaara- I like the possibilities of both characters and are considering including one of their perspectives more regularly, but not both. I have two tentative directions for a subplot, but said subplot can only include one of them. Decisions, they are hard. Opinions? Speak now, or forever hold thy peace.


	17. Chapter 17

Five ninja sat uncomfortably close in a stall. Jiraiya had managed to sit across from Tsunade, leaving the two boys to pile in next to him and Shizune to linger at the end of the table for a long moment, before she cuddled Tonton closer and sat down next to her mentor. Naruto made a reach for a sake saucer, but the taller blonde slapped his hand away with nearly enough force to break the delicate bones in his hand. He resentfully glared at her, holding his hand to his chest.

"Serves you right, loser," Sasuke said in a low undertone, managing to become the new target of Naruto's ire. The boys squirmed, engaging in under-the-table warfare with kicks and elbow jabs.

Tsunade gave her old teammate a distinctly unimpressed expression. "I didn't know you were dragging around brats now. Going to get those ones killed too?" Shizune winced at that particular bit of bluntness, but Jiraiya knew better than to react. She was trying to drive him away. Calmly, he poured drinks for the three adults, noticing Shizune's raised hand a moment late. Tsunade solved the problem by slamming down her drink and then pushing the saucer away.

"Have you heard about what happened yet?"

The older blonde's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about, pervert?"

Sasuke spared a moment from his covert war against Naruto to smirk at that insult. He hadn't been pleased by their guide's habit of 'stopping to observe the sights'. It was one of the few times when he deigned to outwardly agree with Naruto—the man's behavior was an embarrassment and completely degraded the often-civilian women he took advantage of to leer at. Plus, he was still trying to process the strange way the white-haired man had looked at him before off-handedly mentioning that he looked just like his mother. Sasuke shuddered in his seat.

When it came, the reply was measured, calm, and almost emotionless. "Orochimaru went and founded his own village, which he used as leverage to kill the Kazekage, take his place and have the two groups attack Konoha from the inside during the Chuunin exam."

Tsunade visibly expressed surprise- a minor victory for Jiraiya. He had her off balance. Shizune didn't have her mentor's reticence and leaned forward, face twisted into dismay. Tonton began to wiggle when her grip tightened. "What happened?"

Jiraiya very noticeably did not look down her kimono when she leaned forward, Naruto noted with some surprise while he tried to pull his aching shins out of Sasuke's reach. His face was the most serious the boys had ever seen. "I killed Oro- the bastard, but Sandaime-sama… Sensei is dying. He's in a coma. Tsunade, the village is in dire need. That vulture Danzo and his cronies are doing everything they can to steal as much power as possible before Sensei is even cold. We need a strong candidate for Hokage. Someone who no one can claim isn't qualified for the job."

Naruto's eyes were wide at the dramatic way the information was laid out, but everyone else had regained their feet. "No." Tsunade shook her head, ponytails swishing over her shoulders. "Absolutely not. That job…" She unconsciously splayed her fingers across her collarbones, brushing against a pendant. "Only a moron would take that job!"

Sasuke sent a genuinely considering look at Naruto, his thoughts written plainly over his features for once. '_Good news, if that's true we have a great candidate._' Tsunade caught the look and gave a mean, mildly hysterical sound of amusement, but no one else acknowledged it. He'd expected Naruto to react to the other blonde's declaration, but the other boy was staring at the older woman across the table with disgust frozen on his features. '_Maybe he gave up on that dream,_' Sasuke idly thought. _'He hasn't mentioned it since before… He hasn't mentioned it since before the exam.'_

"Fuck you, old lady!" Naruto banged a fist on the table, standing up so violently that the bench was pushed back.

_'Ah, there's the reaction_,' Sasuke thought blandly.

"The Hokage have been some of the greatest people born to our village. You can't possibly say that the Sandaime was a moron. He was brilliant, like the Yondaime! I'm going to be the Hokage one day and you won't say crap like that then!" He leaned across the table aggressively, shouting into her face with his hands planted on the table surface.

Shizune covered her dark eyes with the hand that wasn't strangling Tonton. Eyes the color of honey, ringed by ridiculously long blonde lashes narrowed dangerously. Her left hand shot out and tangled into the front of Naruto's shirt, pointed nails digging into the fabric. "Listen, kid," she snarled. "I have known people with ten times more talent than you with that same dream, and they all ended up dead chasing it. You don't have a chance. You should give up now, while you still can. There's some good advice for you."

"Why would I give up, when a loser like you already has that market cornered," Naruto jeered. "I don't know why the pervert even bothered to track down someone as old and bitter as you!" Jiraiya twitched in his seat.

Always ready to chime in with an insult, Sasuke added, "We might be better off with the pervert in charge than a coward." He glanced over at his teammate, who looked significantly less idiotic than usual and hadn't kicked him in almost a minute. "The idiot might even do a better job. Come on. We're wasting our time." He turned to slide out of the seat, dismissing the fact that Naruto was still trapped in Tsunade's monster grip.

"Don't you walk away from me," the older woman practically roared. "You brats! You have no idea what I've been through that led me to know that position is bad news!" She dropped her alcohol untouched, letting the liquid splash over the table and grabbing Sasuke by his obnoxiously wide collar. Tsunade then proceeded to bodily lift both boys above the table, letting them kick futilely. Naruto managed to clip Jiraiya on the head pretty well, but she was too furious to laugh at his misfortune and the shoeprint in his hair.

Naruto gave her back just as good as he got with kicks and muffled exclamations, face red from both oxygen deprivation and mindless rage. Jiraiya joined Shizune in escape, slumping down in his seat to crawl out under the table on his hands and knees while the more conventional path was blocked by struggling adolescent feet.

"And don't you dare call me old," she added, as if an afterthought. "I'm almost a full year younger than that white-haired moron you followed here!"

There was a moment of silence, then Naruto's face twisted in mild surprise. "Holy shit, you're that old? I thought you were more like thirty than a gazillion." A small, squeaking sound of inestimable rage escaped through Tsunade's dropped jaw. The muscle below Jiraiya's right eye twitched, and he paused in his stealthy retreat to slowwwwwly turn around.

"You're getting off topic, idiot," Sasuke choked out even though the words were muffled by the collar that was currently covering almost his entire face.

"The bastard has a point," Naruto rallied in much the same easy way as he'd just insulted two of the three adults at the table. "You're still a loser, and you're wrong about being Hokage! The Hokage protects the village and everyone in it." He practically shone with the force of his conviction. The darkness and newly acquired doubt in that particular ambition that someone who knew him would see was completely invisible to Tsunade's eyes.

As someone who did see the crack in the slight pause Naruto gave mid-sentence, Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. Something that was still raw related to their missing teammate tainted the way he thought about what the loser said. He usually felt derisive when the idiot made declarations like that one. But… '_Maybe Naruto isn't such an idiot after all. The idea of wanting to protect your precious people… If I had precious people left, I would want to protect them from Itachi._'

Sakura had definitely not been a precious person. But she had been familiar and increasingly tolerable. Even if she had remained as annoying as she had been at the start, he would still have tried to protect her from enemies.

Maybe Naruto was onto something with the idea of protecting people you loved. That was a lot like getting revenge for people if you had never failed to keep them safe from a monster in the first place. It would be accomplished in much the same way, after all. Killing Itachi and others like him.

Tsunade's grip momentarily loosened while she stared at the blonde, some strange emotion passing over her face. Of course, with Jiraiya and Shizune at a slightly safer distance and Sasuke's face covered by his collar, the only one who saw it was also the only one without the social skills to recognize that he'd just made the busty woman think about something else. Her eyes softened, and she let go of both boys in order to bury her face in her hands, elbows splayed out on the table. Naruto yelped as his tailbone connected with the seat, while Sasuke missed the bench altogether and managed to be the only person in the world to fall to the floor and struggle his way out of his shirt in a semi-dignified manner.

Tsunade's shoulder shook, though whether she was laughing or crying was anyone's guess. Jiraiya swooped back in and extracted both preteens, bundling them off into Shizune's custody and quietly asking if she could please take them to the hotel, he needed a word with his old teammate. She was actually flustered enough to comply.

* * *

"You're pretty good at that," Karin said blandly, not looking at Aiko at all. She licked a fingertip and turned the page of the medical text she was reading, face not displaying any of the frustration Aiko would have felt in her place. 'Anatomy of Chakra Systems: How it Can Go Wrong; Third Edition' sounded like a book used for torture, not education.

The taller redhead grimaced. "Very funny, Karin." She gave up on the attempt at chakra chains for the moment, viciously kicking a rock that she could displace her anger on to. It bounced across the training ground on the outskirts of town, ending up in a patch of mud.

Her companion raised one eyebrow silently. Aiko flushed. '_What is it about this girl that gets me so flustered?' _she griped. Karin had some sort of sixth sense for making Aiko feel immature and silly.

With a sigh, Aiko ran through a mental list of what she should get done for the day. With the reconstruction occupying a good portion of her time, she had been neglecting her regular training.

_'I can't go another day without trying to get the senbon trick to work,_' she decided. She'd been putting it off for a while. Anko had demonstrated a wrist-flick that sent a brace of senbon hidden under fingerless gloves flying. It looked really cool, and was a low energy, low chakra way of turning around a fight… especially if she poisoned them. They weren't poisoned yet, of course. Until she had gotten to a point where she aimed them reliably, that would be a phenomenally stupid idea.

"That's my cue to leave," Karin said dryly, marking a spot in her book.

Aiko blinked at the other girl, confused. "What are you talking about?"

A theatrical sigh filled the air, and the older girl held up two fingers. "One. You're staring at the target circle and rotating your wrists, indicating that you're thinking about possibly skewering my person with badly aimed senbon again."

"I said I was sorry," Aiko grumbled a bit bitterly. Karin gave her a withering look and plowed over the mild objection.

"Two. Sasuke-san and one more person are coming in this direction, and fast. I don't know the other, but it's like monstrously big. It must be that Sannin he left with. Sasuke doesn't seem to like me at the best of times, and right now his chakra signature feels really weird. It's really.." she scrunched up her nose. "It's really _still_, kind of, and he feels very sad. If I had ever felt another chakra signature like Sasuke's, I would say it was a different person. But his is so unique." Karin's eyes glazed and she dreamily floated off on a tangent, as she often did when she tried to describe the unique way she understood the world. A bit bewildered, Aiko let her. "I think it must be connected to the Sharingan. But he also just has the most beautiful aura, Aiko."

It would probably be best to pretend not to hear the sigh, Aiko decided. "Okay then." She glanced at her target, wondering how long she'd have to practice until Sasuke showed up. She didn't want to skewer him either. "How long til he's here?"

Karin closed her eyes for a moment, entering that clear, practical state of mind she slipped into when there was intellectual work to be done. She bit her lower lip just once before she opened her eyes and mouth. "About two minutes, if he keeps a steady pace. He'll be cutting right through there, about forty feet north of us." She frowned, noticing something. "Which is rather bad of him, he'd only come this way if he were avoiding using the gates. He and that Jiraiya person are slipping in through an unpatrolled section. I don't sense Naruto or anyone else either. Something important must have happened."

'_That's really weird. Maybe Naruto is with Tsunade?'_ Aiko thanked her housemate and waved her off, finally getting to start working on hitting that damn target. Anko had made this move look so easy, slipping out ten senbon one right after another with highspeed and impeccable aim. When Aiko did it, they all tended to flop out at once and fall to the ground about a foot away from her outstretched hand.

_'Maybe I need to try one at a time.'_ Instead of packing them all back under her glove, she slipped just one senbon in and tucked the rest into her thigh pouch. After her rough count indicated that a minute and fifty seconds had passed but she still didn't sense Sasuke's chakra signature, she frowned. Granted, she wasn't a sensor like Karin, but it was still embarrassing that a genin could hide from her. _'Jiraiya must have either taught him how to block or be blocking for him,'_ she decided.

Then she decided to take a chance. At worst, she was talking to herself and no one would know. If Karin had been right, she'd fool him into thinking that she still had one over him. Aiko repressed a smirk. '_Maybe the impulse to prank poor Sasuke is contagious._'

"Sasuke-kun, you're ten years early to successfully sneak past me," she idly called out. For a moment, a chakra signature fluttered in and out of her ability to feel out of what had to be surprise. She'd managed to shake him much more than she would have guessed. She smiled to herself. _'Oh yeah, paydirt_.' Funny, that. He really shouldn't be too surprised to be caught out by someone of a higher rank.

The redhead gave a deep sigh, flicking her wrist again to send just the one senbon flying. Remarkably, it hit the target. She tried to exercise similarly good aim with her teasing. "Isn't my cute little kohai going to say hello, after you've been gone so long? It hurt my feelings, you know, to wake up in the hospital alone." There may have been a little bit of genuine bitterness in that sentence. She slipped another senbon out of her pouch to ascertain if the hit was a fluke or indication that she'd figured the basic move out before she added a second.

Then the two men behind her actually dropped their chakra cloaking technique and she almost literally choked in surprise, dropping the senbon into the dirt and whirling around to see that the fucking scary signature that had only the barest of similarities to Sasuke's (_and __**what the hell was Karin smoking**__? Did she even feel the same things Aiko did when she used Kagura of the Mind's Eye_?) and that the other belonged to about eight feet of big, blue man.

She swallowed, hard, and wished the next words out of her mouth were a little more intelligent than "You're not Sasuke." Aiko did her level best to sink into the ground.

In her short career as a ninja in this batshit world, she had managed to push back fear many times. Aiko knew that she did not have the plot armor that the manga characters had, but she could have also have been relatively certain that the no-name opponents she fought had weaknesses. Most of them could be outsmarted. She took out most of her opponents in something other than direct combat—she sensed them, poisoned them, or herded them where she needed them or something like that. Occasionally she had to revert to taijutsu, but that was her best skill.

She could not push back this fear, because she recognized these two people by their coloring and clothing. There was absolutely zero chance she could outsmart or outfight these two.

Uchiha Itachi lowered his head slightly and took off the hideous, bell-ringed hat, letting it fall to the side. "No." Calm red eyes cut into her face as if looking for something underneath her skin. "I am not." The man beside her grinned with utterly terrifying pointed teeth. _'Is that just a Kririgakure thing?_' some portion of her brain that still operating managed to question.

The part of her brain that wasn't functioning helped her blurt out, "Is now a bad time to scream like a little girl and run for my mommy?" She fought the urge to back up and put as much distance as possible between her and these guys. That wasn't the ninja thing to do. At the moment, it seemed like a fabulous idea.

Kisame (that was _fucking Hoshigaki Kisame_ ten feet from her, looking dangerous as all hell) gave a short, barking laugh. "That would be a very bad idea." He bared his teeth at her. "You wouldn't get very far, kid."

Indeed. Her physical conditioning was nowhere near theirs, eliminating both flight and taijutsu as life-saving possibilities. '_Suddenly, being a shinobi who specializes in taijutsu seems like a terrible idea. When there are monsters like this around, anyway._' Her right hand drifted down to her thigh pouch, where she had poison, kunai and explosive tags. "No, but I think fighting wouldn't end much better," she pointed out in a calm tone utterly at odds with the hysteria bubbling up.

_'Itachi is supposed to secretly be a good guy, right? He probably won't kill me. I think._' The thought wasn't that comforting. _'I can't beat them, I can't really stall them for long, and I definitely can't just let two S-class criminals pass me into town._'

"How about we have a nice civil conversation and then you two leave as reformed men, happy to abandon whatever nefarious things you had planned?"

'_That plan might work for Naruto. Maybe I also inherited therapy-no-jutsu, despite the total lack of charisma I've shown so far?_' Ugh, long shot. She slipped a finger through the loop of a kunai, pretending not to know that the older two definitely saw the move and could have killed her at least five times while she made it. Each.

"A decent plan," the taller man leered. "But not as good as the original plan, sorry." He hefted his gigantic sword.

"Kisame."

Everyone stopped to look at the Uchiha, who was still staring at her with unnerving focus. She felt her legs begin to shake.

"Leave us. Continue with the plan."

His hand fell from the handle of his sword, and Kisame shook his head fondly. "I suppose I'll find a better fight, then." In a flash he was gone, chakra signature still unbound and almost certain to attract a lot of attention, very fast. Aiko swallowed, hard, and hoped against hope Karin wouldn't wander right to him to find out why 'Sasuke' had been feeling so strange. No, she wouldn't. She might have mistaken Itachi for Sasuke when he was repressing his chakra, but not when he was practically shouting his presence.

"Why did you think I was someone else." His face was as blank as his tone, but she knew that if he hadn't cared he would have left.

She instantly felt like ten kinds an idiot. '_Of course it would be worrisome to an S-class criminal who happens to be a spy that some random Chuunin apparently sensed him when he was meant to be stealthy. I can't tell him that it wasn't me who sensed him without selling out Karin, and she doesn't deserve to get involved in this.' _She was trapped.

"I'm not telling you shit," she spat, feeling quite a bit less brave than she sounded. Irritation or something quite like it flashed through his red eyes in the instant before she broke eye contact and flung three kunai at the bulk of his body and shot to her left, fingers shooting together to start a handsign sequence and not succeeding. That failure was in large part due to the rather large, warm hand that had captured both hands and forced them together with the palms facing outwards so that she couldn't form handsigns. The other hand pushed against her shoulder with uncomfortable force, pinning her against a tree. Reflexively, she kicked out at his shins and received a tightened grip in response.

"I do not play games, kunoichi."

Up close, he seemed much taller. Perhaps it had just been the fact that he'd been standing next to Hoshigaki that had made her think he wasn't so big. Not that height mattered, but she was used to her unusual height putting her only about six inches below most adults. She really did feel like a child now, subdued almost instantly like she'd been naughty and merely needed correction. She swallowed, knowing that he could probably feel the rabbit-like flutter of her heartbeat through his palm.

He probably sensed the angry presence barreling straight for him before Aiko did, but it might have been close. It was a presence she was very familiar with, after all. She started to smile, feeling inestimably relieved that her sensei had pulled through, followed by what felt like Gai. That was when her eyes met those of the man pinning her for the third time. This time, she didn't marvel at their color or coldness. Instead, she found herself mildly surprised to perceive that she was in a world of black-and-white, and that the redness was still pure and intense. It was possibly more intense than usual because it was the only color visible.

"Tsukyomi," he intoned, sounding almost bored. "I have almost literally all the time in the world for you to explain how you sensed my presence." Aiko hyperventilated, tugging at the ropes that bound her to a cross and trying not to look frightened when he pulled out a short blade. '_If he isn't evil, he is doing an excellent imitation,'_ she noted weakly. '_That in mind, I can't tell him Karin was the one who sensed him. He might go find her. She's an important village asset now.'_

She said nothing, averting her eyes and allowing herself to go limp, doing her very best to ignore his presence and recede into her own mind. That lack of struggle made his next words seem a bit futile and redundant. "This is a dimension of my own making where time passes as I wish and I control all. You cannot hope to fight me here."

_'This is the part where he disembowels me, right?'_ She braced for the pain. _'Is it Tartarus who was disemboweled every day by an eagle? I haven't brushed up on my mythology lately._' The thought almost made her giggle out of some bizarre form of nerves and sheer terror.

_'Go inside, where he can't hurt you,' _she reminded herself, thinking of the lessons on torture resistance and wearing them like a cloak.

Of course, a cloak didn't keep her safe from the blade that started by tracing a line up her arm, slicing off chunks of flesh.

"How did you sense me, little one?"

* * *

Dog felt the silent scream of adrenaline that had begun the instant he sensed those two monstrous presences emerge in training ground seven, eyes glued to the figure of his long-term student in the exact instant that the relief at his presence fell off her face and the man holding her let go, allowing her to collapse in a pile at his feet.

He barely registered that his team was behind him—they had been waiting to check in at the Hokage tower. The three following him were comparatively rookies, but even they must have sensed those signatures emerge. Gai, on the other hand, who must have been working out in Training ground 10 had nearly beat him there. He had stopped to fight the Mist traitor—with blue skin and a sword like that, he couldn't be from anywhere else.

The Mist traitor was the least of his concerns at the moment, however. That was Uchiha Itachi there, looking at him with a blank expression and a twelve year old slumped at his feet.

"Get away from my student."

He didn't think the Uchiha would harm her further—she was obviously unconscious under some sort of genjutsu and there would be no point to it. But then again, he'd worked with Uchiha Itachi seven years ago and it had never occurred to him that the solemn preteen would kill his entire family, so his predictive powers were in question.

The fight that followed made him wish he had been insane enough to pull a Gai and learn to fight by only watching his opponent's feet. The younger nin was obviously holding back, though Kakashi had no idea why. Sadism or mercy?

If he had been watching his opponent's face, he might have seen the moment when Itachi realized that he had succeeded in getting Danzo's attention. A group of ANBU that were almost certainly Root affiliated were approaching quickly.

_'It is time to end this fight and go. I am sorry to do this, Hatake-san.'_

His regret was definitely not on his face when the Sharingan whirred and he flickered out of sight, reappearing directly in front of the silver-haired man. It might have been a dangerous move to get within arm's reach if he hadn't ensnared the Copy Nin in the exact instant he forced eye contact.

* * *

Karin fluffed her cousin's pillow (it was simpler to judge their relationship that way than with the honest but vague 'distant relation of unknown connection'). She fought the urge to take another pain pill- she had a hell of a headache that just wouldn't go away.

'_When I found family, I didn't think they would be this much trouble. She'd only just got out of the hospital a week before she went back in.'_ The redhead settled into the chair at Aiko's bedside and dug around in her canvas knapsack for the book she was working on.

Truthfully, she wasn't entirely sure why Aiko and her teacher were nonresponsive in the hospital. Whatever had happened was above her clearance- both in the regular military and as a hospital trainee. The notes on Aiko's clipboard were coded- she had peeked. At this point, she was less worried and more resigned. Aiko would undoubtedly wake up soon. In the meantime, she had homework to do if she wanted to show up that whiny little civilian-born brat who thought she was oh-so-superior to the outsider. Lousy brat, with her tiny reserves that made it easy for her to use scalpels and her big dumb face…

"Is there any particular reason for you to scowl at that book?"

Karin nearly fell out of her chair in surprise at hearing her teacher's voice. "Ah, Mito-sensei!" She sat up, nervously smoothing down her shirt. "No, I'm just a little frustrated," she admitted honestly.

The kind brown eyes of the woman who led her small group through lessons and let them shadow her at the hospital seemed to understand what she didn't say. The older woman crossed over to check the clipboard at the foot of the bed, scanning dispassionately. "I don't suppose you can read this, hmm?"

Karin shook her head, feeling a little foolish. "I can't." She admitted honestly. "No one would tell me why she's unconscious or for how long she will be. It's annoying."

"I see." Mito-sensei's eyes flickered to the open door, and then she seemed to shrug. "Your cousin is under a genjutsu. See here," the woman gently pushed up the eyelid. "She seems unconscious, but she's experiencing rapid eye movement, even though a scan here…" Her hand let the eyelid drop and passed mint green light over Aiko's forehead. "shows that the patient is not experiencing the REM cycle in any stage. Her mind is working as if she were awake. The patient's movement is constricted, but it is still possible to tell that she's experiencing significant stress. Tell me how, Karin-chan."

"Um…" Karin stood and leaned over her cousin, red eyes trying to look for clues she'd missed before. "She's sweating. Is that it?" She moved a little closer and lightly touched the tips of her fingers to the pulse point on her cousin's pale, naked throat. "Her heartrate is elevated, too."

"Very good. Possible repercussions of this state being sustained for a prolonged period of time?" The question was bland and impersonal, as if this was just another textbook hypothetical. Karin found that it helped her relax and truly consider the problem.

"Extreme mental strain and maybe even brain trauma," she said promptly. "She is essentially going without sleep for however long the genjutsu persists, meaning that her condition will deteriorate. The patient is likely to be irrational at time of waking."

"Astute as always, Karin-chan. That being said, it is impossible to know when she will wake up. In fact, it is a little worrisome that she hasn't already. If she does not regain consciousness naturally within ten hours, we will be forced to try to awaken her by disrupting the genjutsu manually." Mito made a mark on the clipboard, changed the iv, and then took down vital statistics. She touched Karin's shoulder lightly, pausing on her way out. "You should go home and get some rest, Karin-chan. You still have class in the morning. Someone will come for you when she wakes, as her only relative in the village at the moment."

"Hai," Karin agreed reluctantly, packing up her bag. "I suppose visiting hours are over, huh."

* * *

No Omake Today, because it is :

Ranty Time. 3

I received a long and uncomplimentary review to the tune of 'I am upset that things are not going as they did in canon to shape a character in the ways I see as most central to their character' and 'I can't possibly imagine a way for this to get better, so I won't read anymore', as well as criticisms of any number of things that the reader thought were out of character or poorly thought out.

I wonder if this person isn't alone, so I wanted to add some quick notes about those concerns. The note below also explains my philosophy on feedback from readers, so it might clear things up if you're interested.

Firstly, this is not canon. It's a shame that if the things about canon that you happen to like best or see as central aren't the ones I focus on as essential, but it's not a problem with my writing. It's a problem of incompatibility of what a reader wants and what the reader is reading. If the story I'm writing isn't one you want to read… exit or hold your peace, because I'm not forcing anyone to broaden their horizons. A lot of this story- the vast majority, really- goes on as in canon because the addition of one character doesn't change everything. Either ask or consider that it's A. not important to the story being told or B. happened as in canon and isn't being repeated because why would I spend time rewriting scenes we all know? _Thank you_.

Second point- readers don't have to be able to imagine how the rest of the story will go. That's the author's job. If my readers know where everything is going, then I'm doing a poor job as a writer. Although it does seem strange that it would be impossible to imagine a way for things to get better- the world is full of nearly infinite possibilities, and not one comes to mind?

Thirdly, to points like 'Hinata should be dead because Gaara would have killed her in the hospital' (paraphrase, of course)… Well, I'm only going to rebut this one in the interest of conserving space, although there were others and the reviewer was incorrect about their assumption that I had no rationale for other decisions, like Naruto not killing Gaara in their fight. Simply speaking, there is no reason to believe Gaara would try to finish Hinata off in the hospital. He went after Lee to prove his strength after Lee actually managed to piss him off by harming him in their match. That made it personal. He hurt Hinata because it was amusing and he could, not because Hinata had managed to harm him.

I'm done with that now, but I would like to add something to anyone who made it through that block of text. I am more than willing to talk about potential problems or future directions or themes with anyone who sends a review or message asking about them. In fact, I actually like those conversations. If people express interest in a scene or something that I didn't show, I will quite likely include it later as an omake.

But anything that attempts to condescend or bully (and with quotes like "'man, look at how awful everything is with no hope for improvement'" and describing a character as a "sarcastic bitch", it's hard to interpret that in another way) will be dismissed. Still, I want to call that out—there is absolutely no reason other than a desire to say something harmful and unkind that would cause someone to tell an author that they're not reading the story anymore. There are lots of stories on this site that I don't want to finish after a few minutes of reading, but I've never been rude and inconsiderate enough to take the time to tell the author that their work is too awful to read. You're better than that, everyone reading this, including and especially if the author of that review (which otherwise addressed some valid concerns) does come back. Don't be impulsively mean. It only reflects on you, and you'll feel silly later.

Anyone read that whole thing? If you did, tell me and request a scene. ;D


	18. Chapter 18

This is for everyone who worried that things were getting to be too much of a bummer. There's light at the end of the tunnel. Promise.

* * *

"I can't believe you," Sasuke hissed, disgust coloring his words. He valiantly resisted the urge to throttle his teammate. "I left you for two hours- two hours, and when I come back you're calling that woman 'Grandma' and have agreed to learn an S class jutsu in a week. I don't know if I think that you'll fail by blowing yourself up or that she will snap and kill you, but either way you're dead meat."

Naruto sniggered. "Wanna know something?" He ignored his teammate's eye-roll. "The technique she bet I couldn't learn… it's the one the old man started me on. I have a week head start on it." He grinned mischievously. "She's going to have to come back with us and admit that I was right about being Hokage." Sasuke looked spectacularly unimpressed.

"All I've seen you do is make a mess with water balloons," he said shortly. He smirked at his now-fuming teammate. He set down his chopsticks, more interested in baiting his teammate than choking down whatever the hell he'd been served. "The jutsu he's teaching me is much better." That arch tone always pissed his teammate off, even if he wasn't actually sure he believed his lightning technique was better than the Rasengan. '_Lightning is a better element than wind anyway.'_

The blonde shoved his teammate, cheeks flushed red with anger. "Nuh-uh! Wind is way better than some stupid lightning bolt."

"You don't have to pretend you're not jealous. I know I'd be depressed if our places were switched." The brunette was back in his element, taunting Naruto. The blonde really needed to work on how easily he was provoked. He was helping the idiot. Really.

"Me too," Naruto snapped back. "Your hair is stupid!"

"Are they always like this?" Shizune sighed, chin propped up in her palm, half-heartedly watching the back-and-forth interaction. Jiraiya shrugged distractedly, one hand inching towards her rear end.

_'Just… a little closer'._

Jiraiya yelped in sudden pain, falling off his stool at the bar where they had stopped for lunch. Shizune gasped, big dark eyes communicating disappointment with her mentor. "Tsunade-sama!" She really needed to reign in her impulsive violence. It was frightening the civilians, for one thing.

She stopped and wondered if scaring them just a little might get them some real food.

"Oh, lighten up." The older blonde scanned the menu, giving a lopsided smirk to the short blonde when he noticed her and scowled. The boy pushed away his empty dish and stalked off, leaving his fellow genin sitting awkwardly by himself. _'What an idiot. There's no way he'll master Minato's technique. Then I can be free and clear, and it won't even look like my fault. Shouldn't have made a bet with me, brat_.' Tsunade accepted a glass of ice water and took a sip. "Where's the idiot going?"

Her old teammate gave the boy's back a distracted glance. "Who, the brat? He's doing his training outside of town. Hey, shortstuff," he barked. The Uchiha who had been staring into his soup as though it held all the answers to the universe bristled like an offended cat. "Go work with your teammate. Make sure he doesn't get carried away by wolves or something."

The other boy gave him a positively scathing look and stalked off with a prissy little hip movement. Tsunade didn't hide her snicker.

"Are you really worried about Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked, poking at her food with her chopsticks. She had thought she was used to cheap roadside food stands, but the place Jiraiya had led them to was in a league of its own. The older man shook his head, sending his ridiculous hair flying.

"Nah, he'll be fine. I just can't eat with that little stormcloud hanging around." He made a face. "I'd forgotten what a bummer Uchiha are."

Shizune sighed, pushing her food away mostly uneaten. _'I didn't think the kid was so bad. At least he has the excuse of acting his age when he picks a fight.' _She eyed her two companions, who were already on the verge of coming to blows again.

* * *

The hospital room was cold, clinical, and smelled far too strongly of the bouquet that blonde Ino girl had dropped off, arranging blossoms into apparent perfection in between trading insults. Karin had no idea what the hell a 'hibiscus' was, but it sounded like fighting words to her. "This sucks." Karin gave in to her urge and threw her book across the room, letting it collide with the wall. It flopped over accusingly.

"I can't take it anymore!" she outright yelled. "That's it." She clenched a fist. "If you're too stupid to wake up when you should, I'm going to go home where I'm comfortable!"

That wasn't entirely true. With both of her cousins unavailable, she felt a little out of place. The Hokage had welcomed her, but he was dying. Karin's position in the village was precarious—whoever ended up in charge might not be so lenient and right now she was totally without friendly support. Maybe it was time to seek out some of the people her cousin had introduced her to, like the weird couple in the green spandex. Karin had seen enough to know that politically inconvenient people could disappear without a trace. If no one was looking out for her, she might be better off out of the village if nothing changed soon. She felt a shiver up her spine, but she ignored the fear. Her cousin was going to wake up soon.

"Karin-san," one of the attending nurses sighed, poking his head into the room. "What have we told you about volume in the hospital?"

Karin gave him a disparaging look. "She's in a coma," she said flatly. "So is her sensei in the room to the left, and the room to the right is empty."

"Yes, but I'd have to be in a coma not to hear you from the station," he mumbled sotto voice. When she frowned, he hastily added, "Please control your volume. I'm afraid you've been disturbing other patients."

"I was leaving anyway." She pretended not to see his relief, packing up, grudgingly taking even that stupid book she was starting to **hate**. The introductory section on poisons in her apprenticeship was boring her to tears. What was the point of memorizing the parts of hundreds of plants and their effects? She'd just have the injured party bite her. That'd solve the problem, right? When Karin had suggested that to Mito-sensei, the older woman had actually gotten a bit upset and sent her to work reading case studies. Apparently she shouldn't be letting strange people get their bodily fluids in her blood, especially if they were poisoned. Who knew, right?

"Oh! I am sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," Karin waived off the girl who had been outside the room when she opened the door. Then red eyes narrowed in recognition. "Hey, I know you."

The girl blushed, looking like a porcelain doll with those huge, unnatural looking eyes. "Ah, yes. Uzumaki-san, right? I was going to…" She trailed off, awkwardly holding up her bandaged arms as if to put up a barrier between the two. She cleared her throat. "I wanted to see how Aiko-san is doing," the girl finally managed to squeak.

'_What is with this kid? I didn't think she was this much of a mouse when she was kicking the stuffing out of enemy genin.'_

Actually, Karin had enjoyed a riot of a good time fending off the weak losers sent to retrieve samples of Konoha's bloodlines. Weeks of training under her cousin's supervision had paid off more than she'd realized. Plus, there was something really awesome about reminding herself that she wasn't just a useless little med nin. The little brunette girl had been cool too- at one point, she had knocked a boy out by kicking him in the throat, apologizing all the while. It was pretty amazing. Of course, the shrinking violet in front of her didn't have much resemblance to the girl in business mode.

Karin sighed, closing the door behind her. "She's still in a coma. We have no idea when she'll be up, although apparently some specialist is supposed to be coming here. Mito-sensei says that if this woman can't fix her, no one can." At the way the other girl fidgeted, something about her incredibly long convalescence finally made sense. "You too? Your hands must be bad if no one here can fix them. You busy?"

The girl looked up, surprised. "Ah, no. Not really."

"Alright then. You're coming home with me. I need someone to eat ice cream with and commiserate, and I bet you have as much to vent as I do." She started off down the hall. "Well?"

The little brunette hurried behind her, looking uncertain but reluctant to tell her no. "I don't think I'm supposed to leave the hospital, Uzumaki-san!"

"Pft." She waved a hand dismissively. "Why not? If Aiko wake up or if the specialist shows up, someone will get us. There's no reason to be miserable until then. I'll be sad if you don't come with," she threatened idly. This girl seemed like a bleeding heart. Her acquiescence implied that either Karin was right or that the girl had actually wanted to come with anyway. They traveled most of the way in silence, just enjoying the nice weather. The sunshine and healthy breeze were a marked change from the stuffy hospital.

They paused for a moment at the door, Karin struggling to pick out her key from inside her shorts pocket. The other girl seemed to be looking around, something strange in her expression. "You have a lovely home."

Karin took a second to examine Uzumaki Manor (Naruto's insistence) from an outsider's perspective. The garden out front was riotous, ignoring pretty much all conventions about tasteful decorating despite Ino's best efforts. It had been made with a little too much youth and orange in mind. The house itself looked fine, though. Relatively nondescript and clean. "Thank you. Uh, by the way." She glanced at her companion. "What's your name again?"

The girl smiled shyly up at her, slipping off her shoes in the entryway. "Hyuuga Hinata. Please, call me Hinata, Uzumaki-san."

Karin grinned in response, flipping on the lights and stuffing her feet into fluffy houseslippers. "Then you should call me Karin, Hinata-chan. Chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla? Naruto made something really terrible with vanilla and packets of ramen seasoning if you feel adventurous."

* * *

Pain.

Pain to the point where the questions had long since become white noise. She had enough sense to be grateful for that. If she remembered what he wanted, she probably would have told him, even though she knew she had thought it was important not to tell.

Important even though it didn't make sense. He was gone, right? He didn't know what was going on in her genjutsu couldn't wouldn't know. Not the way genjutsu work.

Never even heard of such a thing. Ridiculous.

Then again, everything is ridiculous. And why would he do this if he couldn't find out? He must. Mustmustmust. Shush. Shhhhhh.

It's so light. Never gets dark, the only shadows come from the moon. Want to just sleep or die. It wouldn't make much difference at this point. Can't die in here. Everything is backwards, only black and white and redredred, killing doesn't make you die. Does living make you dead? No, that's not the parallel. Thinking is hard but I know this. Yes. Does giving life make dead? Healing.

I should ask.

Aiko coughed up blood in the illusory world (I know it's not real, not real, but just one quick question, yes) and casually asked something she didn't hear. Maybe he didn't either. "Pretty eyes," she tried, placatingly.

And then it changed.

The moon flickered, then was white. Ridiculous, the moon is made of cheese should be yellow. It painted pale light instead of dark. The ground became pockmarked with shadow instead of smothered in a thick coat. She became aware of a whimpering sound.

Itachi left in clinical light. She didn't have time to say byebye before he was replaced with the top half of a blonde woman, frowning.

The moon was gone.

Aiko frowned, not even trying to move a muscle in her hospital bed. Something was wrong. She had just been upright.

"Where did the moon go?" is that my voice? Raspy like a smoker.

"Hush," the woman snapped, doing something she couldn't see. "Get out of here, you idiots. If I want a circus I will personally come and find you clowns." She shone a light down, and Aiko yelped, moving for the first time to escape it. "Stop that. Follow the light. Are you with me? Good."

Bewildered but willing to accept this change in the situation, Aiko obediently followed orders. Orders were good. She was used to orders.

"How are you feeling? Any unusual pains?"

That was a harder question. "Unusual?"

"Oh, never mind." The woman gave a heavy sigh. "Do you remember what happened?"

"…What happened?"

"I will take that as a no." Blonde lady picked up a clipboard and wrote something on it, a tiny crease between her eyebrows. "Ask your sensei about it later, then. I don't know what the hell happened either. I'm going to go wake him up now. Any questions?"

Aiko shook her head. "You're really pretty."

Pretty lady barked a laugh. "You've got better taste than your brother." The woman left the room without another word, which stymied Aiko for a moment. She frowned—at the light outside the window, at the door that led to the hallway, and then down at her bare feet when she swung them over the edge of the bed and tottered across the cold tile to follow the older woman like an errant puppy. She was taking orders and hadn't been told stay.

Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem to understand that, though. The old man with them tried to stop her, putting an arm in front of the door the pretty lady had gone through.

"Hey now, miss. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Well, that wasn't right. "Shouldn't you, old guy? I'm following." Then she stopped to frown, registering his face. "I remember you. With the ink the night Naruto scared the orphanage lady. Good job." She patted his head, and then ducked under his surprised arm and into the room.

Hey, sensei's here. Sensei was taking a nap, but the pretty lady was waking him up. Like Sleeping Beauty.

She stopped in the middle of the room. That wasn't quite right, was it? That would make Kakashi the princess. Aiko toddled over to investigate, wondering if her sensei's face was uncovered. Nope. Still. "I bet you're a pretty princess," she said loyally, watching as he blearily turned his one open eye to her instead of at the little light. Then she turned to investigate the sound of choking behind her. It was the old man. Aiko felt concerned. "Pretty lady? The old man sounds bad."

"That sounds about right," the blonde lady said distractedly, going through the same questions she had with Aiko. Then she jumped a little, turning to glare. "You should be in bed."

Aiko looked around the room. There was only one bed, but orders. " 'kay." She clambered beside her sensei, who looked downright alarmed. Then she went the fuck to sleep.

The next time she awoke was a good nine hours later, and she felt much more rational, despite the ache in her head. Her groan must have alerted someone, because the light flicked on and she discovered Karin's face uncomfortably close to hers.

"Ugh, haven't you ever heard of the Geneva convention?"

Karin frowned, sharing more of her morning breath when she asked "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, nothing." She blinked blearily, drawing one hand up to wipe at her eyes and using the other to prop herself up to survey the room. It was relatively late in the evening—at least eight. She frowned. '_Definitely past visiting hourse._' She could understand Karin being here, but her sensei? It seemed just as strange that Naruto wasn't. Was he hurt?

"What's going on?" She flexed her muscles, feeling unusually weak. Aiko transitioned into a stretch, getting a feel for her body's deterioration. "How long was I out?"

Karin backed up to give her some space, stealing a glance at the other person in the room who had yet to speak. "Uh, a little over two weeks total. More recently, about nine hours since you first woke up."

Surprised, Aiko furrowed her brow. "I woke up before?"

"You were slightly more incoherent than usual," Sasuke drawled as he pushed open the door, closely followed by Naruto. "You helpfully informed us that Kakashi was a pretty princess."

"Neechan!" Naruto practically leapt onto the bed beside her, throwing his arms around her middle. "Are you okay? You won't believe what happened while you were out."

She absentmindedly patted his arm, snaking one of her own around his shoulders and squeezing reassuringly. "I'm fine."

"Don't tease, Sasuke," her teacher reprimanded lightly. Something about his posture seemed very serious. "Essentially, she went almost three weeks without sleep. I think she can be forgiven a little delirium."

"And you still haven't slept," a new voice said dryly. The figure it belonged to was ringed in light from the doorway, but easily identifiable as a woman. "Well boys, you did it. You dragged me back here and into four surgeries, three of which were brain operations. I hope you're happy." She sauntered in closer, revealing long blonde hair tied back in twin ponytails.

"Is Hinata-chan going to be alright, then?" Karin asked curiously, surprisingly Aiko. '_I didn't even know she knew Hinata._'

The reply was a withering glare. "Of course she is. Physical therapy is going to be a pain, but she seems to think it's a fair trade for the use of her hands."

Something connected in Aiko's brain, and she hastily sat the rest of the way up. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Yepp." Tsunade smirked at her, an expression that was all feline grace and trouble personified. "Although the last time we spoke, you called me 'Pretty Lady.' "

Instead of blushing, Aiko faked confusion, turning to Sasuke. "I thought you said I wasn't making sense when I first woke up, Sasuke-kun?"

"Don't flatter." The woman lightly hit her upside the back of the head, then took the opportunity to run a scan with fingers that glowed green. The reprimand didn't sting, light as it was. "You seem much better now. How do you feel?"

"Perfectly fine, but with a bit of a headache," she said honestly.

"Mmm." The light flickered into something a shade lighter. "This better?"

Aiko sighed contentedly. "Yes, thank you."

"Good." Then she hit her upside the back of the head, with some force this time. "That was for trying to fight an S-class criminal within village borders. Idiot. That's the most sickeningly Uzumaki thing I've ever heard of. We have plenty of Jounin and ANBU." She ignored the grumbling from Naruto and Karin's confused "Eh?" at the slur against their last name. "As your new Hokage, you are now forbidden to do anything so stupid. Clear?"

"Clear as crystal," she mumbled, feeling a little wronged. She hadn't had much of a choice.

"As for the rest of you morons… Naruto, Jiraiya was right. It's unsafe for you to be in the village. You're going to be leaving with him tomorrow, so say your goodbyes."

He stood up so abruptly that the bed moved back with a screech against the floor. "What? That's unfair!"

She grabbed him by the front of the jacket and practically snarled into his face. "Fair doesn't factor into it. Those men were looking for you, idiot! You want to lead them to your friends?" With that thoroughly unfair emotional manipulation out of the way, she added, "Besides, I'm your Hokage. Don't question my orders."

"Not Hokage yet," he mumbled a little bitterly, jerking out of her grip.

Tsunade turned her attention to her next victim. Sensing that this situation wasn't going to get any prettier, Karin gave a hasty wave, mumbled something about Hinata, and started edging towards the door. "And you, brat. What the hell were you doing, running off into ANBU the moment something went wrong? You had three students left. Clearly you aren't in your right mind. I'm putting you on light duty- no ANBU, no genin team, and no missions over B-class until you straighten out your head." Her tone changed to something more sympathetic. "You'll be meeting with Shizune to sort out the genjutsu aftereffects twice next week. If you try to skip, I'll assume you're trying to say that you don't think they're necessary for your little apprentice either."

Aiko cringed. '_Low blows_,' she thought miserably while Tsunade tore her teacher apart.

"Hold on," Sasuke interrupted, looking pissed. "If Naruto is leaving with the old pervert and Kakashi can't teach genin, what am I supposed to do?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "That's not my problem right now. I'll figure it out. Surely there's some genin team out there who can take an extra."

"That's not good enough!" he snapped. He gave her his highest level bitch-face, the one that actually made Chuunin uncomfortable back in the Academy. Aiko had always suspected it reminded people of his father. "Weird or not, Kakashi's one of the best Jounin in the village. I won't be dumped on some idiot when I need to get stronger. _You_ teach me."

"Like you could keep up with me," she scoffed, turning away and making for the door.

"Coward. Do you always avoid responsibility?"

Tsunade slowwwwly turned around, a shit-your-pants-terrifying smile on her face. "Fine. You can try my training for a week." She left. Sasuke smirked, and then seemed to realize what had happened. She could practically see the moment he wondered if he really had won or not. In the silence that followed, Aiko moved to squeeze her sensei's hand.

"You should get to bed. Training in the morning, sensei?" She gave him a hug around the waist. Mechanically, he fluffed her hair, already messy and floofed up in the back with bedhead.

"Well, that was pleasant." He backed away from his students and uncomfortably put his hands in his pocket. "I suppose this is goodbye for a while, Naruto."

"Yeah." The blonde hung his head and swallowed hard. When he looked up again, his expression was steel. "I'll get strong enough that it won't matter if those jackasses come around again."

"I believe it," their teacher said quietly, fondly. He didn't quite manage to look at any of them. "Well, look at the time! I should take my cat for a walk." None of them was really surprised by the shunshin that followed.

* * *

"Turns out she may have earned that title," Sasuke groaned, lethargically picking at his vegetables from the hot pot.

Aiko tried her best not to snicker, pulling out another piece of meat with her chopsticks. At her side, Karin actually managed a sympathetic look. "Medical stuff is way harder than it looks," she commiserated, looking irritatingly pristine next to her filthy and battered dining partners. They exchanged dirty looks. Karin obliviously tapped her fingers on the tabletop.

"I haven't learned a single jutsu," Sasuke said flatly, staring at the table as if he hoped it would leap up and kill him. "She beats me around for about an hour, gives me a list of exercises and then hits me with a book to read before the end of the day. Then she saunters away to drink. (Tsunade was enjoying her last days of freedom before the hat was officially hers.) The best part is that she occasionally sends a minion to attack me while I study."

'_He really should have expected she would make his life hell_,' Aiko thought fondly. She was cranky like that. Of course, she had been ridiculously full of herself since she had re-entered Konoha… but not without reason.

Tsunade had reason to be smug. She had managed to bring the third Hokage out of his coma the day before she had tried to help Hinata, Kakashi and Aiko. He was infirm and would likely never be able to so much as take the stairs at a decent clip again, but it was a small price to pay for his life. Granted, he was elderly and probably didn't have that much time left anyway, but better to die on his own terms than due to a former student's treachery. Once he caught up on the situation, he was actually happy enough to cry, Naruto had related solemnly. And why not? His village was saved, two of his wayward students had returned (if only for a while in Jiraiya's case), and he finally had a successor he could trust the village to. It was almost an unnecessary bonus that the near-death shock had thawed the worst of the hostilities between him and his only living family.

* * *

Omake

"What are you doing?" Ino screeched, rushing across the field of wildflowers to stop the travesty against nature she had barely caught in time. Lee blinked, confused, switching his gaze between her and the bouquet he had assembled himself.

"What do you mean, Ino-san? You told me to pick out flowers. These are the most youthful!" He gave her a thumbs-up. "I thought the colors were lovely, and I have a certain fondness for lotuses!"

"Lee… That bouquet…" She shook her head, struggling for words. When she started again, her tone was clinical. "Lotuses mean 'Love from afar', orange lilies mean 'hatred' and 'revenge'; and white carnations are for _engagements_," she hissed, not nearly as calm as she had been when they started. "What message, exactly, are you trying to convey? Because right now, you will terrify the person you inform that you love and hate them even though they don't know you because they wronged you, possibly by being engaged. Or possibly that you are now engaged, which may surprise them just a bit."

He examined his pretty pink, orange and white bouquet uncertainly. "Ano, Ino-san… do you think Gai-sensei's rival is familiar with flower language?"

She took a moment to process the implications of that statement, remembered how Naruto had loudly complained that the man seemed to know everything, imagined how said man would react, and gave an enormous, fake smile. "I bet you're right! When we're done here, I'll get you the perfect vase before we go over to the hospital."

_'I have to remember to tell Asuma-sensei. He'll enjoy this.'_

"Come on, Lee. Art and Crafts time isn't over. I still need hibiscus and spider lily. Then we can go to my house and I'll teach you how to arrange them."


	19. Chapter 19

Karin had long since fallen asleep, mouth hanging open and the candles by her bed still flickering. Aiko sat in the near-darkness of her own room, knees up to her chest. The last few days had been hard. Not quite as hard as her one day with Naruto before he had left again for what would probably be a two year trip. The thought made her incredibly miserable. They had missed their birthday while he had been gone, so they had bumbled their way through an incredibly depressing birthday lunch, avoiding the conversations they should have had.

'_Not entirely sure there's anything to say, anyway.'_ Aiko knew her brother inside and out, and he had a similar read on her. They both knew damn well that they were not going to enjoy the long separation, but there was no way to know how they would cope with it. They'd never been apart for longer than a few weeks while Aiko was on missions.

Aiko still wasn't in her right mind, frankly. If anything, she was getting worse. When she had first woken up, she had been disoriented and had managed to block out the trauma from the extended genjutsu. She had only begun to remember when she went to sleep again, waking up shrieking and sweating.

_'At least I 'met' Jiraiya before they left this time_,' she half-groused, half meant in seriousness. He had given her the strangest look- as though she wasn't what he had expected or something. He had been exactly what she expected, though, both from her foreknowledge and the uncomplimentary description provided by both boys. (Surprisingly, for once Sasuke had been just as vocal in his displeasure as Naruto). She had made the calculated decision not to tell either one of them that she actually read his books just yet.

Every night that she went to sleep, things just got worse. Unluckily, the night terrors hadn't really become an issue until after the second of her counseling sessions was done—the first day, she had barely been affected at all, and when she had checked back in on the fourth day, she was just starting to feel worn down.

Paranoia was a shinobi virtue, up there with 'stealth' and 'moral flexibility', but she had become so jumpy that it was getting hard to function.

_'I wonder how sensei is doing. Is he having dreams like this?_'

Kakashi-sensei had snapped so far back into his 'normal' behavior that she was caught between thinking it had to be an act or that he had gotten some really excellent drugs. Really, the only difference was that he was now pushing her much harder than he ever had before in training. (Then again, he'd never been able to be solely focused on her training, so the assessment may not have been fair). It had only been about a week and a half since the two of them woke up in the hospital. He had viciously leapt into improving both of their physical condition after their deterioration in the hospital, and then into working to improve rapidly. His sudden drive, now that she thought about it, probably meant that he was angry with himself about losing that fight so easily. A man who had made ANBU before he had stopped growing probably had not been concerned with drastically improving his conditioning in a long time.

_'Then again, his casual, emotionally removed attitude was probably always an act to some extent.'_ Moonlight played with shadows through the trees outside her window and she shivered. Aiko unfolded her legs and dug out an old sweater, quietly slipping out of the house and into the night. Too late she realized her legs were still bare, but she stubbornly kept to the rock path through the backyard, trying to find enjoyment in the cool night air. It was utterly impractical for a shinobi to freeze up at the sight of the moon. A lot of her work was done at night. She had to get over it.

Her best assessment was that she now had a sliiiight tendency to get twitchy at the moon and a bit of insomnia. If she couldn't work through it on her own, she would go back to the hospital to talk to Shizune, she decided. But that wasn't her biggest worry.

She didn't remember most of her time in the Tsukyomi. There was no way to know what she had told Itachi. Karin might be in danger. She could have shared anything about Konoha's current state of political unrest or personnel (what little she knew, anyway).

Logic managed to calm most of those concerns—Itachi was loyal to Konoha. Even if he found out anything he couldn't through other channels (unlikely, as he was a resourceful person) he would be unlikely to misuse the information. If he knew about Karin, he would probably also find out that her power was unique and couldn't be used against him normally. Even if he didn't, the fact that he had not killed her when he easily could have indicated that he was willing to risk a possible threat to live. He was a bit of a soft touch.

Was Itachi enough of a soft touch to do absolutely nothing about any precognitive knowledge he may have gotten from her? She could have said anything in those seventy-two hours of pain. There was always the hope that he would have taken any shared information as the ravings of someone willing to say anything…

Putting all her hope on that rather unlikely outcome put a sick feeling in her gut. From what she knew, he was a nearly unrivaled professional and would have easily been able to get her to confirm information he would have known.

"There's nothing for it," she sighed. Aiko bent her legs and jumped all the way up onto a nearby home, using it as a bouncing pad to bound up to the higher levels of roofs that comprised the ninja speedway across town. '_May as well start training early. I'm not going to get back to sleep.'_

* * *

In as far back as any of the recent Konoha graduates could remember, the streets had never been so full. The older generation, on the other hand, remembered a day even grander, before the Kyuubi had leveled half the village and when the population was considerably higher. Even festival days (rare as they were in a military village) paled in comparison. The spectacle was ridiculous—someone had managed to locate a sheet big enough to cover the new head on the mountain (produced by some doton master in a downright shockingly short period of time), all the civilians were in formal clothing while every active duty nin in the village wore their actual uniform for once, and candles burnt on every windowsill in contrast with the quickly setting sun.

The crowd jostled excitedly when the figure finally appeared on the balcony of the main administration tower overlooking the largest street, civilians screaming wildly. Most of the soldiers were more disciplined, but some of them were jumping up and down as well… especially when the Third hobbled up to stand at Tsunade's right, slightly behind her and waving reservedly.

Her speech was pretty standard stuff, concluding with the enormous sheet cascading off the mountain to reveal her face in a predictable theatric display. At least Aiko thought so, but the crowd really went wild for it. She rolled her eyes slightly, but clapped along good-naturedly. They had reason to be happy, she supposed, even if they were total saps to think that the pleasantries she was giving really meant much. They were just the sorts of things that politicians said. But Tsunade was a pretty damn stand-up person. She'd do alright.

Never particularly fond of crowds, she snuck away as soon as she possibly could without causing scandal. Above the crowd, Tsunade was similarly impatient to get back to the conversation she had been having with her predecessor and sensei, feeling her face start to hurt from the downright unusual smile she had been holding. The expression had come naturally for once—despite being a habitual grump, she had felt the crowd's exhilaration.

It slid right off her face when the balcony doors were safely closed and the office darkened. She found her way behind her new desk, waiting until Sarutobi managed to seat himself until she steepled her fingers in front of her face and gave him a stern, demanding expression that she had never had reason to give her old superior. "Now. What was it you were saying about information I had to have if I was really going to take the job?"

A muscle twitched in his neck, and the third Hokage felt his age settle around his shoulders again. "Only a few are privy to the darker parts of Konoha's history. I had hoped that these secrets would die with me, but my old friend Danzo…" he shook his head slowly. "has been causing trouble. Do you remember that in my first term as Hokage, not long before Minato's appointment I found out about his secret force within the ANBU?"

She waved a hand. "Vaguely."

He cleared his throat. "Yes, quite. I had it dissolved, but I have recently had cause to believe that he did not follow my orders. I let it slide longer than I should…"

"Damn right you did!" she snapped, scowling. "That's treason. You should have had his head! Are you telling me that a traitor has his own military faction? You are certain?"

"Yes…" Sarutobi tightened his grip on his walking stick, not appreciating her tone. His response was a little harsh. "Things are not so simple as you seem to think. Not only does Danzo have a great deal of respect and power on his own, but he has the support of the small council."

She gave him a slow blink in reply, unimpressed behind her folded fingers. "Koharu and Homura have been supporting a traitor?"

"They're my teammates," he protested, not liking where this was going. "They have provided guidance to the village for longer than you've been in service, my dear."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, but for now she didn't comment. "Is there anything else I need to know? Any other dangerous secrets that might come around to haunt me?" Her words were almost mocking, but she was clearly serious.

He closed his eyes slowly. He had never wanted to share this particular shame with anyone, and if her reactions so far were any judge, Tsunade would not be pleased. With a failure like this in his past, did he really deserve forgiveness?

"What do you know about the Uchiha massacre?"

She blinked, surprised. "That was almost five years ago. I was long gone from the village. All I know is that some clan prodigy snapped and killed everyone but the little grump who came with Jiraiya to drag me home."

He exhaled slowly, looking away. "Concise, but not exactly correct. Uchiha Itachi was not and is not 'snapped,' as you so diplomatically put it. He executed the Uchiha clan on orders from Danzo."

The resulting "WHAT?!" broke through the silencing seals and insulated door separating the civilian secretary from the conversation. She jumped so suddenly that her elbow managed to knock over the bottle of ink on her desk, ruining the top papers she had been working on with the new schedule.

Back inside the office, Tsunade was white with fury. "Are you insane?" she roared, now standing straight up behind her desk. Her old mentor stared back at her with a practiced calm that she now thought looked a lot like an indication that he wasn't quite all there. "Why the hell isn't that man in custody?"

"The Uchiha were planning a coup," he explained calmly. "The extermination was planned as a last resort, but he gave the order too soon. By the time I knew, it had already been done. Uchiha Itachi is and always has been loyal to Konoha. His only request was that I keep his brother safe. I have done my best to ensure that. Itachi is now serving undercover in what seems to be an extremely dangerous organization of high-class missing nin."

She sat, feeling a rush of chemicals flooding her brain. Tsunade vaguely recognized she was in shock. Rubbing at her face, she searched for the appropriate words to explain what she was thinking. "Do you know why he jumped the kunai?"

Sarutobi's face tightened. "Danzo disagreed with my assessment that the situation could be resolved through other means."

"Of course he did." The youthful-looking blonde suddenly felt far too old to be taking up this job. "_Sensei, what the hell are you thinking? That man, along with anyone who supports his treason, needs to go.'_ Tsunade hung her head quietly, swallowing hard. She had grown up hating the Uchiha. As a member of the dwindling Senju, it was almost a litmus test. But this… this was far more monstrous than the sick tragedy of a boy inured to horror far too soon killing his family in a fit, as she had thought was the case. The thought that her village had condoned this made her want to run right back out the gates and never come back. She had left because she felt this place was a death trap. Learning that her sensei had covered up this monstrosity for almost half a decade… a muscle twitched in her jaw. This didn't inspire confidence.

'_No more_,' she decided silently. The Third Hokage sat quietly, awaiting the tongue-lashing he knew was coming. '_I don't care that he doesn't want to publically shame his old friends. They have to go. Every last one of them.'_ She eyed her sensei, the man who she had respected. No more. _'He… it's a good thing I hadn't actually announced that I was planning on putting him on my new council.'_

Instead of raging, her voice was ice. To a man who knew her, the disdain and anger were obvious. "It is long past time that the small council is replaced with more capable advisors. They were appointed almost fifty years ago, after all. Danzo, Koharu, and Himura will all be removed from their positions in the village hierarchy and replaced. You are going to help me make that happen with every last bit of power and support you have, or I will have this travesty made public and them all burned as traitors. That may still happen if they fight against their retirements. I am being merciful. If the clans knew about this, far worse would happen."

His jaw worked silently for a long moment. He had expected a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them. "That's impossible," he protested. "Such a thing has never been done!"

"The village is only what, four generations old," she pointed out coldly. "We aren't exactly talking about ancient traditions. Besides, this is a military dictatorship answerable only to the Daimyo. Do not think to tell me that something cannot be done."

Sarutobi slumped back in his chair, confounded by the logistics of what he had just been ordered to do by his Hokage (and at this moment, she was definitely his Hokage instead of his student). "We could ask them to retire," he suggested weakly.

She raised one eyebrow condescendingly. "And risk them resisting?"

"You could threaten them as charmingly as you have me," he said rather waspishly. Tsunade looked completely unrepentant.

"That's one option," she decided. "I don't like it, but it is noted. Anything else?"

"How does anyone ever get removed from power?" Sarutobi's fingers itched for his habitual pipe. "We make them want to leave, we remove their support by undermining their credentials or swaying opinion to a more suitable candidate, or we ensure that they are incapable of continuing." He frowned. "I do, of course, not recommend the last option."

"It's not off the table yet," she muttered darkly. With a flare of chakra, she turned off the privacy seals keeping the office locked away. As if summoned, an ANBU guard flickered into the room. "Go bring me Nara Shikaku and ANBU turtle," she said briskly.

Sarutobi protested vocally, holding up a hand. The ANBU actually stopped for a moment, reflexively obeying the Hokage he had served under all his life until now.

"I said go!" Tsunade barked. As the masked man left, she leveled a look at her old sensei that implied he was shit under her sandals. "You do not give orders to my ANBU," she purred dangerously. "Nor do you get to decide with whom I share information. I have been removed from village politics for almost a decade. I need a view I can trust." She leaned forward, eyes glittering. "Clearly, I cannot trust your judgment. You should have stayed retired the first time."

He had no reply for that particular bit of bluntness.

"You will remain while I explain the situation, just in case there is anything else that needs to be cleared up. Then you will be dismissed. I shouldn't have to remind you that you are strictly forbidden to utter a word of the discussion that happened in this office, but apparently you need to have the obvious spelled out with small words. I would suggest that you go straight home, as you will be accompanied by an ANBU I trust who will be under orders to immediately eliminate anyone that you breathe a word of this matter to." She gave him a cool smile that was distinctly devoid of any friendliness. He bowed his head to her judgment. It was her job, now.

When the two that had been summoned were both in her office (Turtle had been working with his genin team and had needed to change out of his leotard), Tsunade dismissed the other ANBU but gestured for Turtle to stand in the corner while she re-activated the privacy seal. It was most unusual, but neither man seemed to bat an eye.

Until the shame-faced Third Hokage got to the grand revelation, that was. He outright flinched away from the shocked horror on one of his most trusted follower's faces and the uncharacteristic stiffness in Turtle's posture.

"Shit," Shikaku cursed, running his hands through his hair in a stressed gesture. "Shit. I can't—this is all true?" At the nod of confirmation, he let loose a string of curses that practically dyed the air blue. "Why… Why are you telling me this? This knowledge could tear Konoha apart. If the clans knew that not only had the council approved genocide, but that the man who went behind your back to give the order not only escaped punishment but remained in a position of power for _five years_ after the fact, there would be riots in the streets. There should be riots in the streets!"

Tsunade smoothly cut in for the first time since she'd prodded Sarutobi to start talking. "So that you can help me figure out how to get every last one of those bastards out on their ears," she hissed, just as angry. "ANBU Turtle, your current assignment is to shadow the former Hokage." Her lip curled. "This is both for his protection, as I assume he will be invaluable for fixing this massive fuckup, but to ensure that he does not speak a word of what was discussed here to any of his old friends, since apparently his judgment is far past questionable. You will be relieved by Wolf. Report back to me as soon as you have been relieved."

Turtle bowed deeply.

Tsunade gave her former mentor a scathing look. "Now you get the hell out of my office. I don't want to look at you."

A hysterical bubble of laughter escaped the Nara after Sarutobi left, impassive but shamed. "I just… shit. I can't believe this. The highest level of our government is filled with traitors." He paced in place, the infamous Nara intellect working full-tilt. "This isn't going to be easy, you know." Then he frowned. "Actually, with old dogs like these, easy might be the best way to go. All three of them are schemers. Publically announce their retirements and replacements and don't give them a chance to refute anything. None of them are likely to make a scene."

"They aren't likely to give up either," she pointed out darkly. "The two council members may well be loyal enough to stand down. But they may also see this as the act of a dictator and believe that the loyal act would be to oppose it. That's even excluding the possibility that they have gotten used to power and privilege. Danzo, on the other hand…" she trailed off, shaking with fury. "is definitely power hungry. He attempted to get inaugurated as the fifth Hokage. He has a private militia of unknown size and a history of outright traitorous action. He cannot be trusted to stand down."

Shikaku slipped his hands into his pockets, slouching slightly in thought. "It seems likely that an attempt to process him for his crimes will end badly," he pointed out, resigned. "He could send his forces against us or have them protect him. Danzo is wily. There is almost no chance we could get him locked away safely without exposing the crime. The Third Hokage might be lynched in the streets."

"Is there any reason he should escape the consequences of his actions?" she asked, bitterness obvious.

The man shrugged. "If what he mentioned about Itachi's current assignment is accurate, letting this information out would probably both end his life and lose our informant."

Tsunade cradled her head in her hands, wishing the world was as simple as she had thought it was only two hours ago when she was cheered by hundreds. She had promised those people that they were under her protection. It had seemed a little easier without an immediate crisis. Her mind went to that skinny Uchiha brat who she had been beating around the training field. The kid actually wasn't so bad—a little glum, but he had a quick wit and an impressive work ethic. Training him hadn't been terrible, but she hadn't honestly considered taking him on as an apprentice. After all, her specialties wouldn't exactly be the first choice for a self-proclaimed avenger.

Then she had a realization and groaned out loud, confusing the poor stressed Nara in front of her desk. '_I can't very well push him off onto some rookie team now. Not only do I feel bad for the little shit, but he has to be guided away from his goal of killing his brother, who happens to be innocent. Gently. By someone with subtlety, understanding of clinical psychology, and access to the information that his brother is innocent. It has to be me or possibly Shizune. I can't begin to trust anyone else with this. I'm hesitant to put it on poor Shizune's shoulders. He can't possibly find out the truth, not yet_.' Poor thing might actually have a psychotic break if she broke it to him suddenly.

"We are going to write a letter to the Daimyo," she decided, returning to the real world. It took Shikaku only a moment to catch on.

He nodded. "I see. Ensuring that our version of events is the one that reaches his ears first, to prevent later problems?"

"You're going to help me compose it, as well as escort it to him personally with your team. I'm pulling all three of you onto the active duty roster for this assignment." She leveled him with a steady stare. "I cannot trust this letter to conventional means, you understand, nor can I unilaterally trust my ANBU now." She winced at that thought. "Kami only knows how I'm going to sort this monstrosity out when I cannot trust my own forces."

"That should be next," Shikaku agreed, gaze drifting over her shoulder to fixate longingly on the blue sky outside. "We should know what kind of forces Danzo has at his disposal before we commit to a course of action."

* * *

Sasuke still looked a little shell-shocked when he met Aiko and Karin for morning conditioning a few days after the inauguration, a tradition that had somehow endured even without half of the original workout group. Karin finished the warm-up run first and folded straight over in half, touching the ground between her feet with her elbows.

"What's wrong, Sasuke-san?" She rolled back upwards and stretched straight upwards, palms facing up and fingers interlocked. The other two joined her for their own flexibility stretches. Aiko looked at her male companion, curiously. He hadn't been spending much time with them lately.

"Tsunade offered to take me on as an apprentice."

The girls froze, staring at him with wide eyes. "W-what!?" Aiko tried to process that information, giving a little laugh. '_Well… Sakura isn't around to take the job.'_ She winced. '_In a way, it makes sense._' He seemed unsure as to what he should think. '_Tsunade has been gone for so long that she could be making a politically charged decision to connect with the younger generation,_' she theorized. '_It's probably not a coincidence that her new apprentice is from the clan-heir age group. It could smooth things over for her to have the adulation and some semblance of a personal connection to the age group who will be her new Chuunin and Jounin. Most of the people she worked with are either retiring or leaving active field duty.'_

"That is so cool," Karin gushed. Aiko jerked in surprise. She'd forgotten that she had yet to respond.

"It is pretty awesome," she agreed, swiveling to face him completely. He grunted, stretching one arm behind his head. "Are you going to take her up on it? I mean, wow. Getting trained by a Sannin… Well, I guess it may be slightly more prestigious than getting trained by Kakashi-sensei." She took a moment to hope this wasn't one of the days when he was lurking around to make sure they worked out, not bothering to try to check. He could hide from her. "Not by much", she grudgingly allowed. "He's really awesome."

Sasuke gave an irritated sigh, frowning slightly. "I know that she's powerful, but I never saw myself learning _**healing**_," he scowled.

_'He's probably wondering if working with Tsunade would prepare him to kill Itachi,'_ Aiko realized. '_It's certainly not the traditional specialty for someone who plans to hunt an S-class missing nin. Then again, Tsunade is probably one of like six living people outside of the Akatsuki who could hope to fight Itachi. You could argue either way.'_

Karin snorted. "What's so wrong with that? No one knows how to take a person apart like a medic does, and Tsunade is the best. Besides, that's not all she can do."

"Ugh," she groaned inappropriately loudly at a sudden and unpleasant thought. The other two turned to look at her questioningly. Aiko shrugged. "I just imagined Sasuke uprooting a tree and swinging it at Kakashi-sensei with Tsunade's super strength one day when he shows up to practice late with another lame excuse. 'I got lost on the road of life,'" she mocked.

The boy appeared to seriously consider that, a smile tugging at one side of his lips insistently as he started his pull-ups, easily ducking his chin above and below the metal bar between two wooden posts. "He'd deserve it."

The girls joined him, with varying levels of enthusiasm. Karin had a look on her face that implied she would skip this part of conditioning if no one was there to peer pressure her into it. The other two pretended not to hear how rough her breathing got, transitioning to holding their chins above the bar.

"Just two minutes, right," Karin huffed, quickly turning red.

"Yepp," Aiko responded, letting her feet wave slightly in the air. She closed her eyes to concentrate, hating the way her arms began to burn before she was done. "ugh." She let herself fall to the ground, landing in a slight crouch.

"I think I like the idea," Aiko said thoughtfully. "You and Naruto can be like the new Sannin."

"Leaving you to be Orochimaru," Karin giggled, stepping blissfully over the elephant in the room that Aiko wasn't really the third member of that original team. "I don't think that parallel really works out."

"Makes sense, you're the creepy one," Sasuke taunted quietly.

Aiko flushed. "Ah, no. That's not what I meant. I think that has to be Anko. She's the only one with the snake contract now," she pointed out. Sasuke gave her a strangely considering look.

"The only one…" He mused. "Does that mean that the contract reverted to her when he died?" Aiko shrugged. '_Probably.'_ He seemed to take her shrug as affirmation. "She probably should have an apprentice sign it," he pointed out calmly. "Otherwise it'll be lost when she dies."

* * *

Miles and miles away, safely back in one of many temporary bases in Rain country, Itachi allowed himself a moment alone to try to puzzle through the baffling information he had received at the end of the two genjutsu he had cast in Konoha. Judging by the fact that the two had been released within an hour's time, he was almost certain that the Sannin Tsunade had returned to Konoha. It was surprising that Pein had yet to find that out, or if he had he had yet to share the information. Generally Pein seemed to hold to the policy that information was a form of power that should be shared when relevant. It certainly was relevant now, given that he had recently ordered Itachi and Kisame to investigate the rumors (that Itachi knew to be fact) that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was now in Konoha's active forces.

Itachi knew that the jinchuuriki was now a genin because he was on his otouto's team, under the Copy-Nin. He had a burning desire for more information about his otouto, but had managed to avoid bringing Sasuke up when he tortured his genin teacher. His willpower had been pushed too far by curiosity, however, at the red-headed girl who had mistaken him for his otouto.

'_She called him her kohai,_' he remembered. That was strange. Sasuke had always been proud, in the way that only a son of the Uchiha could be. The girl had looked to be about his age. Why would Sasuke allow a girl his age to claim mentor status? Itachi masterfully turned his mind away from his wistful desire to see his brother again. (Was he tall? Did he still have mother's eyes? Was he getting strong enough to be safe from Madara's machinations?)

The information he had obtained from the two released genjutsu painted an incomplete picture of the people his otouto was closest to in Konoha. One of them was unsurprising, although it was painful to remember torturing someone he still held a great deal of respect for.

The other… '_Is the girl insane? A spy of some sort?'_

Those two options were exponentially more likely than the initial conclusion he had gathered from the utter nonsense she had garbled over the 72 hours in-world that the genjutsu had lasted. Unfortunately, they didn't fit the information. All he had wanted was to know how she had sensed his presence, and that seemed to be the only thing she was not willing to talk about. He had made the mistake of asking her if she knew who he was and what he was capable of doing to her –_apparently, his genjutsu self had an embarrassing flair for the dramatic_—and had been rather surprised to hear accurate babble about his career, participation in but not masterminding of the massacre, and his current partner in the Akatsuki… which turned to an outpour about other members. It was almost all information he had shared with Jiraiya, of course, but he would never have told any of that to some Chuunin stationed in Konoha.

There was absolutely no way for her to have the information she'd had. Some of what she had said made no sense at all—he was certain that Orochimaru was dead (even though he'd nearly had heart failure when he processed the information that Orochimaru had tried to use a mind-control seal on Sasuke). But there was no earthly way he could imagine for her to know that Pein was not the leader of Akatsuki.

'_Clumsy, in addition to whatever insanity she possesses,_' Itachi mused, completely ignoring the fighting going on between his fellow Akatsuki nearby. '_If she holds information like that, she should be able to protect it. Had I been anyone else, I would go back to kill her.'_

Being who he was, he did not mind having someone else know that Madara was a threat. But how? That was troubling. The Sharingan had been known to give predictive powers that relied on probability and minute cues that the human mind didn't consciously notice, but to the best of his knowledge there wasn't truly anything that could allow someone to predict the future. Yet she would have to be a seer in order to know what she did, unless there was something very large that he was overlooking.

'_Sasuke… you have fallen in with strange people.'_ A Jinchuuriki, the Copy-Nin, and that strange girl who knew too much… '_This will require further investigation,_' he decided grimly, packing for an extended mission. It was time to find an old contact.

* * *

OMAKE- the cat (who has been offstage for far too long)

"Mraow." Smaug stared down his houseservant, tail flicking slightly. The redhead gave a groan, slumping over on the couch where she had been half-watching a cooking show and trying to nap.

"Oh come on, I just let you out. Pick one. Are you a jungle cat, or a futon cat. You can't be both."

Karin snorted, pushing a messy strand behind her ear with her pencil. "Please don't tell me the cat is winning psychological warfare with you again."

Aiko scowled at her housemate. "I'm smarter than the cat." She picked the fluffy feline up around his middle and cuddled him to her chest, playing with his paws. "Aren't I," she crooned. "Hmm, Mr. Pretty Paws?" She crinkled her nose. Smaug looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"Ugh, gross. Aiko, you're going to die alone covered in cats. You need to get a boyfriend." Karin flipped the page of her incredibly boring medical text, red eyes and sharp mind operating independently of her mouth.

"I'm thirteen," the other girl shot back, letting the cat flop off her lap and then getting to her feet. "I have a while yet." She propped open the front door, knowing that it would be easier than catering to the cat. Smaug would catch and kill any bugs that flew in anyways.

* * *

edited on 12/22/2013; same day as original posting. I should probably start re-reading these before I post, but waiting is just so hard.


	20. Chapter 20

"You're kidding, right," Kakashi said flatly in a way that implied he had little hope his Hokage was joking and was instead banking on using his one uncovered eye to light her on fire. White Hatake chakra had been known to have some unusual effects, after all.

No such luck. Despite his best efforts, Tsunade remained stubbornly not-on-fire.

The two kunoichi who had been paired with him for the mission tried not to snicker, but the woman behind the desk made no such concession to his dignity. Tsunade smirked up at one of her top ninja, fully prepared to send him on a mission far below his caliber in a relatively transparent attempt to force him to calm his nerves after what she classified as a minor breakdown.

"I don't joke, Hatake-chan. Have your cute little apprentice help you with your hair. Don't worry, it'll all wash out when you get back and apply the second bottle." He frowned down morosely at the dark red hair dye in his hands. "If you weren't so distinct looking, this wouldn't be necessary," she claimed with far too much enjoyment in her voice and no apparent notice for the irony of that statement coming from a woman with an incredibly rare hair color and breasts that had actually inspired several songs and stories (not counting Jiraiya's complete works, which Aiko was relatively sure were all one long love letter to Tsunade's chest and the woman herself to a lesser extent). "Besides, no one would believe a man with white hair and a woman with purple hair had a red-headed child."

"It's silver," he muttered rebelliously.

"Maybe I should color mine too," Aiko added cautiously. "My hair is far lighter than Anko-senpai's or that dye."

Tsunade gave her a lazy once-over, eyes darting between her features and those of her 'parents'. "You'll be fine, brat. We don't need to match exactly. That's almost as suspicious as not being in the same color family. Now shut up." She turned her attention back to the adults in the room. "As I was saying, you three will be posing as a family on vacation. A certain noble client has become concerned that there is an informant in their household, passing compromising information through their hotel and spa."

She rolled her eyes at the thought, adding in a rather scathing tone that, "The family is concerned that their attempt to marry into some other noble family will be sabotaged. A lot of money is on the line here—if this merger happens, our client will be getting a big fat wedding present in the form of a diamond mine." (Anko choked on the bamboo dango skewer hanging out of her mouth, eyes popping out in surprise) Tsunade grinned at the shock on the other two kunoichi's faces, pursing her vividly red lips prettily before she continued "It's your job to make sure that doesn't happen, or that if it does the person who doesn't isn't passing the gossip through the spa. Anko, make sure Hatake unwinds. This mission should be well within the capabilities of a team far less talented than you three, so I expect there to be no screw-ups."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." She shifted her weight to one hip, examining her cohorts. "Would it be acceptable for me to use henge to look a little older, or are we concerned about enemy nin?"

Aiko tried not to show amusement at that thought. '_Kakashi-sensei could pass for my dad in a pinch, (a young, hot dad, just __**barely**__ old enough to be the father of a 14 year old) but Anko is definitely too young to be my mother. She would have been ten when I was born._' She shuddered.

"Henge will be fine." The Hokage shrugged, shuffling around in her desk. "This is all civilian in-fighting. If they had hired ninja to get that information, those nobles wouldn't know anything was wrong. Any other questions that your mission brief didn't answer?" At the negative answers, she nodded decisively. "Good. Now get the hell out of my office."

As it turned out Kakashi-sensei did not want or need any help with his hair, showing up only half an hour late at the gates with pretty reddish hair that shone like Kankuro's in the sun and a slouched, defensive attitude that suggested a pout was hidden underneath his sky blue scarf. Aiko tried not to cringe while the Chuunin gate guards gave double and triple takes, Izumo gawking with his mouth hanging open at the moment he seemed to figure out who the fit redhead he'd been checking out was. Seeing her teacher out of uniform was strange enough, but Kakashi was wearing an eyepatch. _'I know he has to have his funky red eye closed, but… that looks terrible.'_

Unfortunately they had to walk for even the first part of their journey like civilians instead of traveling at ninja speeds and then getting into cover. At least their destination was relatively close within Fire Country.

All three of them were dressed as relatively well-off civilians for the trip, packed lightly with minimal weaponry. The two kunoichi were in yukata. Aiko tried her best not to stare or laugh—it was hard to believe that Anko had actually owned a butter yellow yukata with green and blue butterflies and Lotus blossoms. The fabulously big, extravagant bow on the accompanying pink obi dwarfed her tiny frame. Her own clothing was a little plainer. It was almost entirely a faded purple with pink threading that suggested a vine pattern. In other words, it was suitable for travel, but still girlish enough to make her look like less of a threat.

_'Maybe Anko has to wear ridiculously feminine clothing to get the same effect_,' she hypothesized, carefully not spending too long looking at the older kunoichi and her carefully henged visage— an incredibly subtle confection that included tiny pore imperfections that suggested the use of makeup to compensate for age.

When they stopped for the night after and she looked at her teacher across the campfire, she'd had enough. "Stand still, tou-san."

Kakashi looked warily at her when she invaded his personal space with a brush. "What the hell are you doing." He stepped back defensively.

Aiko gave her fellow kunoichi exaggerated puppy eyes. "Kaa-san, help me. He _can't_ wear that eye patch. He looks like a reject from an off-Broadway production of Pirates of Penzance." She looked a bit baffled, but Anko eyed up their sole male companion. Other than the eyepatch, he looked good. The role they were playing was a family of relatively new-monied civilians, so he was wearing black slacks and a blue shirt under a thigh-length coat. Some of the very wealthy families wore expensive traditional clothes regularly, but new money was often accompanied by foreign clothing. The role he was playing probably didn't include any rough accidents that would cause the loss of an eye.

"I don't know what the hell the kid said, but she's right. It looks terrible, anata," she drawled. "Be a dear and let her play with your hair."

"Just keep your eye closed." He sighed, but obligingly went limp and read his book with his dark gray eye and kept the other pressed closed when she tugged off his eyepatch and gave it a scathing look before tucking it into the front pocket of his tan coat. Then she wondered why he had to be dressed so warmly. It was only fall. She tried to run her fingers down his scalp and got them caught almost immediately. The feeling of his hair between her fingers set the hair on the back of her neck up- it was so tangled that he couldn't possibly have done anything with it in at least a week. At least it was soft.

_'Does he back-comb? How on earth did he dye his hair? Did he just fill the sink with dye and dip his head in? Because this is definitely not hair that has been combed in the last week. Oh god, did no one teach him to comb his hair? He was an orphan at like six, wasn't he?' _She attacked his hair with her brush, forcing it to obey gravity and fall over his forehead instead of arcing up, arranging it to cover his Sharingan eye and so that a few strands brushed over the rest of his forehead. It didn't want to obey, but she forced it. He patiently endured her attentions in the long-suffering manner he had adopted after about a year of trying to avoid physical contact when stuck with a little girl who liked to hold hands as a student.

"That's better." Anko pulled out her own dirty yellow book, kicking back on her bedroll. "Come to bed, love." Their team leader groaned. Aiko pouted that she couldn't have brought her own book.

The mission dragged on and on as they walked to the neighboring town where they actually hired a horse-drawn carriage to take them to the spa, (an extravagance that only the ridiculous, pretentious people they were portraying would be able to indulge in) and Aiko couldn't help but pout. She didn't complain aloud, however, because there was really no big reason to be upset. The missed training time could be made up for at home, and the spa itself was lovely. She received her own room with an adjoining door to the love suite where Anko had gigglingly dragged Kakashi with a deceptively delicate, pale hand on the first night and then proceeded to have what appeared to be an amazing time making theatrical noises. (The boy who had carried the luggage Anko had managed to buy upstairs had made an 'icky' face and not returned since).

She knew why they had gotten such a frivolous mission, of course. Posing as a family was the least conspicuous way to go on a vacation, and despite the likelihood that nothing dangerous would happen it was always possible that when nobles and money were involved, so were enemy ninja. The two adults with her were both highly skilled, and Aiko herself was capable enough to hold her own against average opponents. Although it seemed as if it might be a waste of an elite like Kakashi, the mission would also hopefully give him time to stabilize and repair some of the recent trauma. As far as Aiko could tell, Tsunade was the type of person who would take good care of her soldiers—not necessarily because she was _soft_, but because it was efficient to do so and she saw no use for either stupidity or cruelty.

Really, the woman was scarily perfect to be a military dictator. Assuming one could forgive her for the alcoholism and fits of violent temper, at least.

While undercover and unable to talk shop, avoid each other, or do shinobi type things, Aiko was amused to discover a strangely amiable chemistry between the three of them. Anko's undercover behavior varied the most from her normal actions. She was still a little raucous, but in a much less trigger-happy way and she gleefully recounted the scandalous interactions of their imaginary neighbors (especially that Hashimoto woman down the street who actually _did her own gardening_, can you imagine?). Aiko was going to have a talk with Anko when they returned to Konoha about her neglected talent as a writer—the woman had a knack for storytelling and a vivid imagination.

On the other hand, Kakashi-sensei's chosen cover wasn't actually that different from his usual behavior, with the exception of his deference to Anko. Though he was nominally in charge of both the mission and in the family they were portraying, Kakashi seemed content to slip into a slightly hen-pecked and affectionately long suffering role, allowing Anko to bully him into stopping at what seemed to be every 'adorable' tea shop in the Fire Country and hinting at a gruff fondness for his 'daughter', but mostly remaining as silent as he usually was, occasionally patting his hip sadly as if reaching reflexively for the book that he had not been able to bring with him now that they were in public.

For her part, Aiko took every opportunity to snuggle up to her sensei, both as part of her cover as a doting daughter delighted to get to spend some time with her slightly distant businessman father and in service of her private belief that her sensei really needed a lot of hugs. Anko leapt into the fray as the parent Aiko must have inherited her touchy qualities from, which meant that Aiko got to bask in hours of hair brushing and really silly braids and amateur geisha hair-dos.

"Mummy," Aiko called, clicking her knuckles against the door to the other two nin's room. At the muffled reply, she pushed the door open and stepped through, trying not to look too enviously at the luxurious suite. Her teacher didn't look up from his position on the bed. He was lying on his back with an Icha Icha book up to his face, reading desperately as if to save up enough happiness to get him through the rest of the book-less day. The older woman walked out of the bathroom still slipping on an earring, face rouged and in a fluffy pink bathrobe dotted with rhinestones at the hems. Aiko tried not to choke with laughter and wildly hoped that Anko would take it home and incorporate it into her wardrobe once this mission was over. The amused look on the other girl's face indicated that she had caught the amusement.

"Oh, I'm sorry darling, I'm running a bit late," Anko pouted, tugging open the folded closet door and extracting a silver and green yukata. "I'll be ready in just a moment." She sailed back into the bathroom and clicked the door behind her. Aiko pressed her lips together and breathed in deeply through her nose, struggling not to let any amusement show. The older kunoichi had really taken to her role as a trophy wife. The role worked for their investigation, however.

She perched on the edge of the bed, being careful not to wrinkle her yukata. When the surface dipped under her weight, one visible gray eye slid to her in what could have been a brief show of despair. Then she blinked and he was focused on his book again as if he'd never stopped. Aiko rolled her eyes and swatted playfully at his hair like a kitten, enjoying the way it bounced back. His hair was like a living thing—it had only taken one day for it to be nearly as tangled as it was when she'd first fixed it. When Anko was finally done primping, the two kunoichi would be taking advantage of their frivolous roles in order to investigate one of the employees that their client was worried about—a woman who, by all accounts, was a fabulous manicurist.

Life was pretty good.

* * *

"I haven't been out in the field for months," Inoichi grumbled, keeping an easy pace with his long-time teammates. Despite the long break in Interrogations work, he had worked with the other two men for so long that there was no chance he would forget the rhythm of travel they fell into or slip out of formations they had developed over twenty years ago. "Has it always been so cold outside?"

Choza chuckled. "You're getting out of shape, old man. I didn't know that interrogations work made you so soft. Don't complain." He made an extra large leap, playfully shaking the tree he landed on. The hefty Akimichi Clan Head had also been on the inactive roster for missions like this, due to clan obligations and the never ending politicking of his position, but he was delighted by the change in routine instead of inconvenienced. Shikaku rolled his eyes, wishing his teammates were a little more mature for once. They noticed his poor attitude, slowing down and dropping out of the trees to approach the Daimyo's home on foot. It was considered rude and possibly hostile to sneak up, after all.

"What's your problem, Shikaku? Is something wrong?" Inoichi probed, dusty blue eyes searching for signs. Signs of what, Shikaku didn't know, but he didn't appreciate the scrutiny either.

His long-time teammate scowled half-heartedly. "Don't pry, you miserable old gossip. You know I'd tell you if you could. You'll know soon anyways."

The blonde knew him too well to be put off by the rudeness, merely shrugging. He dropped the subject- classified was classified- and merely protested being referred to as a miserable old gossip. While the two lanky men bickered, Choza explained their presence to the samurai guarding the traditional gates and had a message sent to the Daimyo asking for a reception. He placidly returned and explained to his companions that they would have to wait a while.

When they were finally led in for an audience, the other two clan heads fell in line behind the Nara. He wasn't their team leader, precisely. They were an interesting team in large part because they were all alpha personalities but seamlessly traded places in the chain of command hierarchy to put the most suited man in charge. At the moment, that was Shikaku, who had all the information about this mission and about what Tsunade had hoped to accomplish by sending them here. It was no coincidence that she had sent three clan heads on this mission. Aside from the fact that it was more respectful to the Daimyo, they were each a pointed reminder that Konoha's strength was in its clans, and each man represented at least a hundred shinobi. It wasn't a threat, precisely, but it might make him leery of dismissing the rights of the large clans in favor of three seventy year olds.

The audience itself made Shikaku wish that Tsunade had allowed him to brief his teammates. He knew why she hadn't—it was her intention that the Daimyo would be able to see the visceral reaction of disgust and anger that the news caused in his teammates. Knowing not only how the clans would react to the news and that too many people to be easily silenced knew about the council's murderous misbehavior would probably factor into his decision.

Granted, Tsunade probably also knew the three men well enough that she had planned it this way so that they had burnt off the worst of their anger before they got back to Konoha and didn't irritate her so much as they might have otherwise. Shikaku admired the woman for her unique mix of laziness and pragmatism, in a terrified 'I-would-run-away-from-her-if-only-I-could' sort of way.

Shikaku knew better than to be surprised or disappointed by the non-committal response the Daimyo gave to the information. The man would almost certainly confer with his most trusted advisors, weighing the most politically viable and intelligent options before weighing with anything so petty as his personal opinion or human decency. The news delivered, the three clan heads backed out in bows and left the capital in a rush. Shikaku consciously did not look at his companions, clenching his jaw imperceptibly.

Choza was the one to break the silence. "When did you find this out?"

Shikaku answered the man honestly, explaining that Tsunade had summoned him to her office before he had even made it home from her inauguration.

The large man gave a low whistle, eyes fixed straight ahead at the treetops they were rushing through. "That's sick," he said with finality and a grimace.

On the other side of their triangle formation, Inoichi agreed quietly, thinking of his own family. "It's horrific," he said lowly, rumbling from his chest at an unusually low pitch. Pale lips pressed together unhappily, and then he gave a derisive laugh. "I almost wish it weren't true or that I didn't know. I don't care what Fugaku was up to. What Danzo ordered was monstrous far beyond the pale." He did his level best not to think of the mass funeral that had been held and all the tiny coffins involved. It had been a sight that sent chills down his spine— at the time he had been a full-grown man who had killed dozens of people in his life, and was still shocked wordless at the sight.

"It's obscene," Shikaku agreed curtly. "I want everyone involved or complicit out on their ear."

"But that can't be done without ruining that poor boy's deep cover," Choza worked out in a displeased rumble. "He'd be dead before the day was out if the Hokage made this public knowledge and tossed them out on their wrinkled asses like they should be." The Nara acknowledged his logic with a nod.

Inoichi sniffed imperiously and frowned. "Doesn't mean they can get away with this," he muttered darkly, mind already working on possible solutions.

* * *

The Fifth Hokage was the strangest human being that Uchiha Sasuke had ever met, and that included his genin sensei. Oh sure, at first glance she seemed relatively normal in comparison to people like Kakashi or his Eternal Rival, but after he had spent a few weeks in her company regularly it became quite clear that she had even less impulse control than Naruto did.

"They probably should have skipped the middleman and made Shizune the Hokage," he muttered to the civilian secretary when he dropped off her coffee. Keiko snorted indelicately, then straightened, mortified by the slip in professionalism, apparently ignorant to the fact that she had been hired precisely because she had no chance of outfoxing any of her shinobi coworkers. "She can't hear," he reassured quietly, trying not to smirk. Tsunade had fired every office worker in the tower to start over with an entirely new staff that she vetted personally, so they were all still a bit jumpy and mildly concerned that another round of firing was on its way.

Personally, Sasuke approved of Tsunade's apparent paranoia. For the moment the personnel switch was causing a lot of extra work—no one really knew the nuances of the old system—but it would be worth it to ensure information security. Once the old employees had made it through her security system, they would all be offered new employment in other office buildings, so he didn't feel particularly sorry for them. One man who had sold information had already been ferreted out by the interrogators and was cooling his heels in prison, so obviously the paranoia had been justified.

Besides, picking up slack in things like getting drinks for the three women who were habitually in the office (the secretary, Tsunade, and Shizune) didn't bother Sasuke. He left for lunch every day anyways, so it wasn't much of a hassle.

His apprenticeship was rather eclectic. He still did his physical conditioning and speed training with Aiko (and now Karin) in the early mornings, but Shizune had taken it upon herself to teach him to use her two favored weapons, senbon and a sword. He did chakra control exercises and assigned reading (both medical and political, to his displeasure) on his own, but his actual mentor did step up at least once daily in order to beat the hell out of him in a taijutsu spar (one of the few excuses Shizune would accept for taking a break from paperwork and boring meetings) or watch him demonstrate the next stage of the medical techniques she was having him work through. He wasn't overly pleased about learning medical jutsu, but they were necessary precursors to Tsunade's unique fighting style—near invulnerability, the ability to store enormous amounts of chakra, and the strength to break through any defense sounded pretty damn good to him.

Unfortunately, there was also a lot of busywork involved. Since his security clearance had been upped, he was now available to go through all sorts of records that needed to be updated. After the disastrous Chuunin Exams that had done massive structural damage and taken a big chunk out of their active reserves, the Jounin who would normally do that sort of thing were spending more time in the field. Even three man genin teams had been broken up into groups of two for D-class missions, a bullet he had barely dodged by dint of his new assignment. He still wasn't sure if he had been lucky or gotten screwed.

After he gave Shizune her coffee (flavoured generously with chocolate) and braved Tsunade's office to ungraciously hand off her tea (giving her attitude was almost as satisfying as poking Naruto into exploding), Sasuke slouched off to his own work space and gave the paperwork on his desk a morose stare. He wouldn't have to do most of the work himself, of course, but he did have to figure out where it needed to go and occasionally compile reports so that the Hokage didn't have to read everything herself to get the important information.

One such project occupied that afternoon—the bureaucratic mess of making sure their records for the statuses of all their active duty nin was updated after Orochimaru's failed invasion. Sasuke silently cursed the man to hell while he painstakingly picked through missing persons reports, autopsies, promotions, and hospital reports of career changing or ending injuries. When he was all done, he scanned through the lists of inactive ninja (very short, considering that they had almost all been called to active duty), active genin, Chuunin, Tobeketsu Jounin, and full Jounin, and then ended it off with finalizing the lists of fatalities and forcibly retired ninja. Then he frowned.

"Something's not right," he muttered to himself, leafing through the missing persons reports and comparing them to the autopsies. Three genin were completely missing— They hadn't been reported as missing, injured, or dead, but they also hadn't been relisted on the active duty roster when they should have reported in. A shinobi village thrived on information and noting details, so it seemed unlikely that no one would have noticed the oddity in the month since the incident. It wasn't as though no one knew the three genin— one of them was the hospital director's son. Yet somehow none of them had been reported as missing or killed in action.

"Where's their sensei," he hmmed, pulling out the appropriate file._ 'One person not being noted missing is a strange incident. Three… either criminal levels of incompetency or conspiracy._' Even if absolutely no one else knew they were missing, their sensei should have noted. When he found the appropriate file, Sasuke frowned. "Well, shit," he said with finality, irritably piling the relevant papers up to stalk to Tsunade's office. He rapped on the door and pushed it open without waiting for an answer.

The woman inside hurriedly pushed something off of her desk and pinned him with a sneer, amber eyes narrowed at his audacity.

"Put me in my place later," he grumped, handing over the folder. "I found something strange. An entire genin team that was completely unaccounted for but somehow not listed as missing. I wondered why their sensei didn't report the disappearances if nothing else. Turns out that their genin sensei was found dead in his home after the exam. By all accounts, he'd been dead for months." He raised an eyebrow. "You would think that they would have noticed that."

Tsunade groaned, running a hand through her hair and staring blearily at the papers he had handed her. "Why don't you people ever have any good news," she groused, glaring at the papers accusingly. "It's never 'we have record numbers of enrollment' or 'the peasants want another holiday in your honor.' Nooo, all you people ever tell me is what's wrong." She sighed heavily, dropping the papers and making a grab for her stash of hard candy, Shizune's most recent attempt to wean her off the hard liquor during business hours. She popped an orange candy in her mouth and sucked on it, clearly thinking. "The obvious explanation is that those three are traitors and they jumped ship," she eventually conceded, frowning darkly, "though that wouldn't explain why no one reported them missing." The woman groaned again, letting her head fall back on her chair.

"Someone covered it up for them to give them time to get out," Sasuke surmised easily. "Or covered up the kidnappings, if that's what happened to them. The Sound did make attempts on bloodline users that would have been easy targets—hospitalized genin and Chuunin, generally teenagers. Those three are on the older scale, but still within the age range we know was targeted."

"Did any of the three have bloodlines?" Tsunade frowned, gesturing for him to pass over their personnel reports. He easily acquiesced. The blonde frowned, resting her elbows on the table and scanning the papers. Sasuke tried not to stare too obviously at the way her shirt fell open at the movement. That was, like, half a foot of cleavage. It was **_mesmerizing_**. _'Is it a genjutsu?' _he wondered seriously, eyes flicking between her face and the hemline of her shirt. Luckily, he was looking up when the women cursed like a sailor and threw the papers in a fit of temper. "Two of them were from minor bloodlines," she exhaled. "Orochimaru always did like playing around with genetics."

Sasuke frowned. "But he's dead," he said abruptly and a little viciously.

"I know that," his mentor snapped irritably. "The kidnapping idea is unlikely, unless we are also assuming that the combined intelligence of those three is low enough that they would fail to notice their teacher was dead for a month. Orochimaru probably promised them something, a place in his stupid Sound village most likely, in exchange for intelligence." She hissed a long breath out between pursed lips, staring off into space in a way that implied her mind was elsewhere. "Which means we need to figure out what they had access to and probably work on updating codes and procedures under the assumption that Sound possesses them."

When she gestured, Sasuke obediently propped open the door so she could yell to the secretary to clear her schedule for the next hour, and then whistled for one of her ANBU guards and promptly demoted him to fetching the head of intelligence. Sasuke watched, nonplussed. When she finally noticed him again, the woman huffed. "Good job, gaki. Don't you have work to do?" She gave a start at something remembered, and then a wicked grin. "Actually, I think you're ready to move on to human autopsies. Why don't you join the group with Homura Mito in…" she tilted her head to see the clock on the wall between the bookshelves. "half an hour. I think I remember signing off on the paperwork for supervised analysis of a Mist nuke-nin today. Try not to get sick."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sauntered out, passing a rather flustered Shizune who was arguing on the phone with someone who was apparently far too important to have their appointment pushed back.

* * *

"This bites," Ino groused, delicately hefting plywood over her shoulder (a bizarre accomplishment) and grimacing at the potential for splinters. Her partner for the day rushed back and forth from the construction site and the lumber piles with far too much energy to be entirely appropriate. "Lee, just watching you is making me tired."

Tenten gave an amused laugh through the nails held in her teeth, hammering away at the joint her partner was holding in place. Neji grimaced slightly in a way that implied he could commiserate, but he didn't comment verbally.

Granted, she had not been foolish enough to believe that repairing damaged infrastructure would be glamorous (the village wide D-class assigned to all genin while their instructors rushed to fill border rosters and take high-paying missions and academy students picked up the slack on other menial missions). But the stupid reconstruction missions seemed to be never ending.

"We should all just get certified as architects once we're done here," Tenten joked once her mouth was empty of metal pieces, wiping at her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. She didn't mind hard work, but she was a little bummed that the two boys who had been promoted in the exam were younger than she was. The Aburame and the Nara boys had both left for border patrol, which she only happened to know because they had left with Gai-sensei, who would be the senior nin at the outpost.

"That is an excellent suggestion, Tenten-san," Lee huffed cheerily, grabbing the end of the wood he was carrying and whipping it around his body, letting go at the perfect time so that it soared directly to Neji, who snatched it right out of the air and used it to prop up the sagging roof. Then he bounded up the side of the nearly-finished porch and landed neatly on the roof, beaming down at his partner. "Ino-san! If we cannot finish tiling this roof before Neji-san repairs the porch, we should do one hundred laps around the lake!"

The Yamanaka dropped the last armful of wood as if it burned her and let it clatter to the grass, already on the roof and yanking the hammer out of Lee's fist. "No way, eyebrows!" He immediately fell to his knees beside her and began laying tiles out in rows, scooting sideways just a little faster than she could hammer them in place.

Neji rolled silver eyes at his kunoichi teammate, hammering at his own task a little faster but making no comment. Tenten sighed fondly, fluffing out her bangs and gamely propping up the triangular brace that was going to scallop the edges of the porch. When he paused in his rhythmic hammering for a moment before picking up the pace angrily, Tenten curiously looked around for what had bothered him. All she could see was that the team working on a house across the street (an Akimichi and the Inuzuka from the last Chuunin exam) had been joined by a redhead and his shy little cousin. Tenten eyed the girls pensively, wondering why Neji even cared. He had always seemed to dislike the brunette, and she had never even met the redheaded girl in the purple dress before. Then she noted a slight oddity, with the laser-like precision of Academy-trained nosiness and anal-retentive attention to detail.

_'Didn't Hinata-san used to wear her forehead protector around her neck?_' Tenten shrugged. She'd remembered because it had seemed rather unusual. '_It looks good on her forehead_,' the older girl noted. _'She looks more serious.'_


	21. Chapter 21

Strangely enough, I only ended up getting two sections done, but I'm posting since the word count is still okay and I haven't posted in a while. I'll get back to the other plot elements, don't worry. I've just been very busy- moving, the GRE, work, having someone steal all my money...

* * *

When the waitress came around, Jiraiya put in his order without a hint of flirtation. When his companion said nothing and the girl skittered a little uncomfortably, fluffy pen held to her heart-shaped pad of pink paper, Jiraiya rolled his eyes and looked up at the man across the table for the first time. "Are you going to order anything?"

Black eyes slid over to the girl, but his expression didn't change as if he really saw her or the way she was blushing. "No."

"Suit yourself," Jiraiya sighed, waving the girl off and slouching. Somehow he still managed to emit an aura of formidability. It wasn't necessary. No one was close enough to overhear and Itachi would sense any usage of chakra.

"The Lady Tsunade has returned to Konoha," he uttered tonelessly, staring off into space. It was an inauspicious start to an information exchange. Then again, Uchiha had never been known for polished conversational abilities. Odds as to whether he was socially impaired or actually just reticent were about fifty-fifty.

Regardless of the motivation, Jiraiya knew the teenager well enough to realize he was both asking for confirmation and dancing around something else. "Yes," he said shortly, glaring a little bit at the reminder. "To fix your mess, and to become Hokage. I'm surprised you haven't heard about that part yet at least."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, unused to that kind of vehemence from the man. "You are angry," he stated. It was a habit of his that drove others to near-fits of irritation, but was often effective at gathering information without giving the other conversationalist the psychological upper hand of being asked a question.

Jiraiya felt a muscle twitch in his jaw, despite being familiar with mental and verbal games of all sorts. '_I hate conversations with this brat,'_ he grumped internally_. 'He doesn't give me many cues to work off. If we are here to exchange information we should just be straight forward.' _

Despite his near blindness, he knew that the younger man somehow sensed his irritation. The sage heaved an irritated sigh, casting a longing glance in the direction of the kitchen. "You put my goddaughter in the hospital," he said shortly in a way that implied that part of the conversation was over. He knew that the boy had to maintain his cover and that included attacking leaf nin, but there were dozens of ways he could have stopped the girl from interfering without causing that kind of damage. Then his gaze sharpened when he noted something unusual. Confused, Jiraiya registered that some brief emotion had crossed the boy's face, which was unusual to say the least. He had no idea what it was, but he had almost certainly surprised the teen. "But you didn't know that," he said slowly, trying to pry out what it was that had elicited a visible reaction. _'That didn't do it._' He consciously did not frown, but he was dissatisfied with the lack of results.

The teen had somehow gone even stiller, obviously recognizing that he had given away some sort of clue. '_He had to have known that she would have been hospitalized after a genjutsu like that,_' Jiraiya reasoned. '_Is he surprised at the implication that she survived? No. If he'd wanted her dead she would be. It is the fact that I know her that surprised him? But why would he even care about a Leaf Chuunin? It would have been more like him to ignore her and continue to his objective. He's never liked extra casualties.'_ Something uneasy roiled in his gut. He trusted the boy on some levels, but the implication that there was some reason for S-class nin to care about his goddaughter was unsettling. Monsters like that shouldn't even know she existed yet. With parents like that it would be surprising if she didn't reach that level one day, but that day was not today.

"Enough of this," the nukenin demurred, pulling out a short scroll. Jiraiya took it numbly, knowing that the report on Akatsuki was doubtlessly important even if it didn't seem that way right now. _'I must be imagining things,'_ he tried to convince himself. Jiraiya was normally an excellent liar, but it didn't seem to be working as the teen across the table nodded his head farewell and strode off, still henged into less conspicuous clothing and facial features.

A disturbing thought occurred._ 'Was it really an accident that Aiko was the first person Itachi and Hoshigaki ran into in Konoha?'_ The large man shifted in his seat, barely noticing the sounds of laughter from a distant table. He had initially assumed so. Then again, a ninja didn't live to be his age without examining strange occurrences closely.

And an S-class nin who had been out of the village for seven years just happening to display even the slightest hint of interest in his former student's child positively stank of something suspicious. _'Aiko, what have you been up to?'_

When it came, the food tasted like ashes. That might have been his perception or the fact that he was at a total dive. So he dropped a gold coin on the table and headed back to the hotel where he had left his charge sleeping a few hours sooner than planned. The boy would no doubt scream about perverts if he knew that the sannin had poked his head in the room where the child slept, but the reassurance made him feel marginally better. Jiraiya cradled his head in his hands, white hair a riotous mess around his face, and sighed. _'I knew that the boy was in serious trouble,_' he thought wearily. _'But I never considered that his sister might be in direct danger. Sure, she could be used against him, but that's a mess to consider when they finally get serious about hunting Naruto and realize that he's too powerful to take easily. Maybe I should find out why exactly an S-class criminal (even if he isn't one, strictly speaking) has interest in a 14 year old. Perhaps I could accept it as keeping an eye on a potential future problem if someone had figured out that she was Minato's child, but if Itachi had known that he would have already suspected I had a connection to the child_.'

Itachi was equally discomfited by the brief exchange, reflecting on it even when he met back up with his partner to travel to their next mission. He had considered bringing up his strange encounter to Jiraiya to prod for information. It had never occurred to him that the toad sage would bring up the girl. The revelation that she was his goddaughter was a little shocking, and he had instantly known that the sage would not give him any useful information on the girl. Prying further would have only put the man on guard and revealed that he had a strong reason to be curious about someone he had encountered completely on accident. If he truly could find no other way to investigate whatever was going on, he would try again later.

'_Unsettling.'_ Hoshigaki Kisame edged slightly further from his partner, sensing the boy was irritated even without any visible cues. After working together for years, he was well attuned to his partner's tells.

Itachi couldn't bring himself to care about what the nukenin thought, face pressed into an incredibly mild frown. '_I do not like hints that I have missed a possible factor.'_

It wasn't the only news that had taken him by surprise, a feeling he definitely did not like. At least discovering that his otouto had been taken under the wing of the Hokage herself had been reassuring, though unexpected considering the long-standing enmity between their clans.

If he had been anyone else, Itachi might have snorted with morbid amusement when he caught himself thinking that_. 'With one Senju and one Uchiha in Konoha, would it not be more unlikely if the feud continued?'_

Regardless of old grudges, the Senju woman would likely be able to guide Sasuke and help him gain the strength to stay safe from monsters like Madara. He might need more motivation if he seemed to be growing complacent. The 19 year old did his best to turn away from that unpleasant thought, but once it had occurred he couldn't stop wondering if his brother's drive to get stronger had faded in the years since he had seen Sasuke. If it had…

* * *

Glossy, perfect nails caught the sunlight from the windows and refracted sparkles from blue glitter polish onto the wall when Aiko pulled open the door to wait on the deck for her two partners. She had been guarding their belongings while the older two did reconnaissance.

Cool wind tugged at her hair, carrying with it the scent of dying flowers. She frowned slightly and tried to gather up the tangles with her fingers, irritated with how long her hair had gotten again when she wasn't paying attention. "Time for a haircut," she sighed, a little surprised that she could actually see strands of blonde hair in her peripheral. The summer sun had bleached out almost all of the red that had seemed so prominent, leaving her much closer to looking like Naruto's relative than Karin's. Just a short year ago, she had been dead in between color-wise.

She blew air out, letting her lips purse with irritation and leaned back into the cool stone wall. For more than one reason (like the lack of sound and the wall immediately behind her), she was startled to feel warm breath on her ear. Aiko shrieked and wheeled around, backing up to see Anko's grinning face hanging out of the open window and her Kakashi slouching by the door, looking hangdog as usual.

She scowled and stuck her tongue out at Anko, curling into her sensei's side and wrapping her arms around him. "She's mean to me," she pouted.

"Don't be like that," Anko drawled, hopping out the open window and joining the other two on the porch. "Well, do you want to tell her the good news or should I?"

She felt her teacher take a deep breath and set his hands on her shoulders, gently prying the teenager off his front. Aiko blinked up at him, awkwardly splitting her attention between his one uncovered eye and the leaf sigil covering the other one. "Well, we're pretty much done with this cover," he announced, pushing his hands into his pockets and slouching slightly.

Surprised, Aiko furrowed her brows. "I thought the guy we caught said the information broker was going to be coming by soon," she objected mildly.

"He is," Kakashi agreed easily. "In fact, he is in town now, in this very hotel."

"Makes sense," she breathed, already cataloguing the few weapons on her person and checking that her chakra reserves were full.

Her teacher held up a hand lazily. "Maa, not so fast," he drawled. "Our client owns this hotel, remember? It would be foolish to engage him here and risk property damage. We will be following our guy out of town. That means we're done resting. We can't afford to sleep until the target makes a move. I don't anticipate that he will be leaving until dark, however. Get packed."

"Yes, sir," she reflexively breathed, pushing past Anko and into her adjoining room, making quick work of the little she had to gather. Most of it had already been folded into a storage seal (a ridiculously frivolous use of a ninja skill, but she could at least justify it as practice). With deft movements, she slipped into more practical footwear, trying not to think too hard about how the knee-high boots must look with the short orange and pink yukata she had been wearing and ripping a line down the side of the material to give easier access to the thigh holster she snapped into place, finishing off by buckling her black hip pouch over the dress and sliding it to rest on the back of her right hip.

By the time she had joined the other two, their rooms looked as though they could have been vacant for weeks. She slipped through and stood at Anko's side. "Ready?" Anko asked, looking down. When she nodded in reply, the older girl gave a sharp grin and nodded. "Right then." She raised her right hand up in a two-fingered seal. "Release!" With a tiny puff, the purple-haired woman disappeared altogether.

Mildly surprised, Aiko raised an eyebrow at her sensei but knew better than to ask for an explanation. The bunshin had probably been meant to signal Anko that backup was on the way. Now that she thought about it, it would have been stupid for them to leave the target alone after they finally found him. Kakashi sighed, flipping his hip pouch shut and straightening. Then he took off, just barely slow enough for her to follow. The speed hardly surprised her anymore, not after four years of being his student. Every time it seemed that she had gotten close to matching his insane speed, he somehow managed to surprise her and make it look easy.

She wasn't surprised to discover that her sensei had been right about when the broker would choose to make a move while Anko tailed him and the other two hung back, ready to provide support but minimizing chances that the broker would sense them. They waited at the far range of Anko's sensing range- close enough that a panicked signal would have them at her side within seconds, but far enough away to speak quietly. Aiko sighed lightly, leaning into her teacher's side. The familiarity was soothing. He glanced down and then his gaze was directed upwards again, at the rooftops and tree line.

"I'm glad Tsunade-sama gave us this mission, sensei. I didn't like it when you went away after the… after Sakura," she breathed quietly. He moved a little uncomfortably. "I… I think that was hard on the boys too." He awkwardly patted her on the head, giving one of the stupidly fake eye smiles. "Don't do that," she snapped, instantly irritated. "You're not really happy, so don't pretend. It's fine to be mad and sad."

"Aa, Aiko-chan," he mumbled, gently knocking the side of her head with his hand and gazing upwards wistfully. "If you insist. I'm not particularly good with those conversations."

The girl huffed, stepping backwards playfully to evade his hand mussing her loose hair. "Whatever you say, old man."

She was a little surprised when instead of a reply, her teacher's eye flashed toward her an instant before a presence materialized right behind her and pulled a forearm across her neck, dragging her backwards into a female chest. "Don't move," a voice hissed directly in her ear. Ignoring that altogether, Aiko went limp and slipped downward just enough for Kakashi to flash-step directly in front of her with a thunderous expression and his large hand wrapped entirely around the woman's neck with what must have been painful force.

He leaned in painfully close, his chin nearly brushing the top of Aiko's head. "I would advise that you let go. Now." The dark eye narrowed dangerously seemed to pierce a hole directly into the surprised woman behind her, who Aiko could see out her peripheral mostly as a porcelain pale chin and a riotous mass of cotton candy blue curls, decorated with black ribbons and glittering clear beads.

A low chuckle filled the air. "Listen to papa bear, Naomi," another woman crooned. Aiko was immediately released and swiveled out of the way.

"Apologies, Mayumi." The strange kunoichi stepped backwards as soon as Kakashi let go, rubbing at her neck idly and focusing all her attention on the tanned, dark-haired woman who had materialized. She was accompanied by a bear of a man with silky brown hair that fell to his shoulders. All three of them were wearing Rock forehead sigils. The two standing together were wearing what appeared to be some variation of a Jounin uniform in dark grays with green detailing. The blue-haired woman was younger—perhaps a teen, and clad in plain black pants and long-sleeved shirt covered in a virtual armory of arm and leg holsters and criss-crossing belts.

The woman who had grabbed Aiko gave a sigh—Naomi?— and leaned back, blinking indolently at the two Konoha nin in between the Rock shinobi.

"Please, forgive my kohai," the second woman purred and slipped one scarred hand into a pouch at her hips. "She got a little jumpy. I think that we have ended up on the trail of the same person, a high level missing nin from our village. We have documentation to prove it." She held it out to Kakashi with a faintly challenging expression.

Briskly, Kakashi examined the sheaf of folded papers she held out, pulsing chakra through it to activate the little watermark that proved the carriers were conducting official business. "Your papers are legitimate, but that doesn't allow you to be in Fire Country unsupervised," he pointed out mildly. The tall man sneered silently, but didn't say anything when the woman at his side stepped forward with a cold and false conciliatory smile.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but he meant to shake us by crossing the border. It was hard for my team and I to imagine returning home when he would likely duck back over the border within a day. Perhaps your team could accompany us? You can take command, of course."

Aiko scowled a little, but said nothing as her teacher agreed, tossing her a look that she knew was meant as a warning to be careful. They couldn't leave the group alone, and if they were really right about the target being an A class missing ninja, there was no point in denying the group and inevitably end up fighting them to get to the target. As long as he was killed or apprehended, their job was done anyway. Strange that such a high class ninja would find himself buying and selling information, but that was a dangerous job after all.

That was when all five shinobi straightened, looking up an instant before Anko materialized out of a cloud of dark particles. She raised an eyebrow at the group. "Kakashi?"

"Report," Kakashi said briskly, not looking at the three foreign nin.

She shrugged. "Target is moving west, fast."

He gave a heavy sigh, glancing between the other five shinobi. "Aiko, take the rear. I want a four hundred foot following distance. Anko, take point with Mayumi-san here. I will take the center line with Naomi-san and grumpy-san here."

Naomi snorted. "You mean Jun?"

He shrugged artlessly. Jun glared at the other man, taking the furthest right position and ignoring the laughs from the front of the formation. Then they took off, following Anko's directions. Aiko tried not to pout, a bit irritated about being babied. She knew damn well why she had the rear—it was likely to be the safest position and Kakashi didn't trust the Rock team at all. That didn't mean she was particularly happy about the implication that he didn't trust her in a fight around an elite opponent.

It became clear that their target knew he was being pursued when they picked up the pace, rushing brutally. Aiko couldn't help but grin at the chase, wishing it was just her and her sensei and the dog pack. She had missed those sorts of missions. Training was all well and good, but escort missions and dealing with administrative work lacked the thrill of the hunt.

Hopefully, now that the genin had found new sensei, things could go back to the way they had been before.

The group burst into a clearing and immediately knew that their target had chosen to make his stand there. It was the first time Aiko had seen him. He wasn't particularly impressive looking, but then again neither was her sensei when he didn't want to be. The man was slim, clad in gray pants and a high collared red top, with a short black ponytail and bangs that hid his eyes from view.

He was also a sword specialist from what she saw as he pulled a thin, flat blade out from a hidden sheathe on his back under his top, making a swipe at Anko that the first rock kunoichi parried with her bare hands and a feral grin that made Mayumi's innocuous features somehow sinister. The man huffed. "I should be flattered, getting two full teams to hunt me down!" Anko had slipped around Mayumi, spitting a spray of poisoned senbon that ricocheted off his hardened skin with a tinkle like glass (_goddamn rock-nin_, Aiko thought absently, _I hate that rock skin jutsu_), though tiny punctures poked through his collar. As Mayumi swiped her right foot into the man's instep to destabilize him, Jun roared forward like a battering ram—and nearly ran full tilt into a tree when the target dropped down through the earth like a gopher.

Naomi whipped through hands seals—Aiko couldn't see them, but the muscles in her back were moving slightly, as were her elbows—and gave a violent stomp that opened up a crevice, out of which the target came flying, sword readied to open up her gut.

It might have been a killing blow, if Kakashi hadn't almost lazily intercepted the man, knocking the blade sideways with one hand and slipping the other under to hit the man with a spray of electricity. It was nothing on his Chidori, of course, but he convulsively bent over and missed his chance to prevent Naomi from ripping the sword out of his grasp and flinging it to the side.

That was about when Aiko was distracted by the fact that there were two unknown chakra signatures coming in hot from behind them. Her mouth was open and the words "friends of yours, Naomi-san" were on her lips when she felt the kunai whizzing towards her head and reflexively used the replacement jutsu with the closest bit of flotsam. That turned out to have been a broken branch behind her that positioned her in between the two new opponents. She barely swiveled in time to duck under the swinging blow from someone of indeterminate gender and age behind a mask and in one of those godawful pajama-like ninja outfits that old people like the Third Hokage preferred. In the seconds that followed, her rote taijutsu and the fact that these two new opponents were probably only B-class at best saved her life while the other rushed to accommodate the increase in opponents and break off into matches.

'_Might not be a bad time to try those chakra chains_,' she reasoned when she was joined by Mayumi, which left Kakashi and Naomi with their original target and Anko and Jun swinging back to intercept the third. She had never actually tried it in combat before, and this was about as low-pressure an environment as she was likely to get to experiment in—on the '2' side of a '2 to 1' fight. Karin had hypothesized that the adrenaline rush of a real fight might make it easier to use the ability for the first time and she could work backwards from there to replicate the adrenaline-fueled feat. The worst that would happen was she failed completely and let Mayumi cover her for a second.

That decided, Aiko grimaced with effort and leapt back, heels skidding in the dirt and furrowed her brow in concentration. The next second seemed to be in slow motion—the opponent seemed to glance between the two kunoichi, decide Mayumi was the immediate threat and swivel towards her at the same time that Aiko breathed deeply and visualized the excess energy escaping her back as a mass of chains.

Consciously, she didn't expect it to work. So she was just about as surprised as everyone else by the unearthly glow of the icy blue chakra that rocketed out of her body—and it was exhilarating! She felt so powerful, and it suddenly made so much fucking sense that Kushina could have done this on her death bed—and honed in on her opponent with pinpoint precision even as the shinobi attempted a dodge, wrapping around a struggling body in the blink of an eye with clanks and monster truck force and ripped the poor fucker to lumpy pieces that exploded outside of the chains.

Everything stopped for a full second, which was an ungodly long time in a shinobi battle. Aiko was relatively sure someone was gaping at her but she didn't turn to see, too fascinated by the disintegration of the chains she had materialized. She moved them experimentally, flinging a little bit of brain matter and making Mayumi flinch backwards.

"Uh, oops. May have underestimated my strength," she blurted, voice turning thoughtful halfway through. That had been interesting. It had been an enormous amount of chakra, however, and she didn't feel the least bit drained. Actually, it was a bit invigorating. How odd.

Lost in her analysis of her new power, she barely turned in time to catch her sensei ram a fist wreathed in solid lightning through the original target and the third opponent fail to move out of a glob of fire that Anko spat. The pause in motion lost him his head—Jun crossed twin daggers the length of her forearm in an X shape that popped it cleanly off like the eraser off a mechanical pencil. He didn't even try to dodge the resultant blood spray, turning his face up to catch it like Ino liked to do with a spring shower.

"Eww," Aiko breathed, a little grossed out.

Someone scoffed. "Like you're one to talk! What the hell was that, short stuff?" Naomi stuck her tongue out, scrunching up her face in disgust. "That was so weird!"

Aiko gave a giddy little giggle, still high on adrenaline and trying not to look directly at the mess she had just made. "Uzumaki chakra chains, apparently," she supplied a little absentmindedly. "Never worked quite like that before…"

_'Never worked at all before_,' a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Karin snarked. She ignored that in favor of the strange expression that cross Mayumi's face. "Uzu.. Uzumaki?" she asked quietly, as if to herself, looking Aiko up and down. Then she shook her head. "Well, good thing we met up. That would have taken longer three on three." She wiped her hands off on her thighs, walking over to the original target and using her toe to push him over. "You don't mind, do you?" She sounded perfectly nonchalant, but she was visibly uncomfortable around the Konoha nin who had apparently proven to be more intimidating than she had expected. Solid chakra constructs were the hardest kind, and two of them had whipped a technique like that out. Aiko tried not to smirk.

"Of course not," Kakashi said gracefully, stepping away and slouching harmlessly again. "Come along, ladies." Anko scowled at being called a lady but obligingly joined them. The three Konoha shinobi crouched in unison, and flash-stepped away towards Konoha, leaving the Rock-nin to deal with the body. It wouldn't do to stick around and get accused of trying to glean information from the corpse after all.

In a blood-soaked clearing, Jun scowled at the direction the Konoha shinobi had left in. "An Uzumaki?" he asked, tone caught between disbelief and disgust. "I thought those fuckers were long gone. Are we really going to let them go?"

Naoki frowned, looking between her older comrades. "I don't understand. Do you know her family?"

Mayumi gave a barking laugh void of amusement and shook her head. "Sometimes I forget you're just a baby, Naoki-chan." She ignored the resultant scowl. "Seal masters from the long-defunct Whirlpool village, but they've always been closely tied to those Konoha dogs." She spat on the ground and sneered in the direction of said village. "They had one about fifteen years back with that same ability when I was a brand-new genin shoved out onto the frontlines as fodder. She was a fucking monster. Never knew what happened to her. Red chained death, I think she was."

"Well, those weren't red," Jun said a bit dryly, bending to tug off the forehead protector as proof of the kill and giving the corpse a vicious kick. He hated tracking, and this stupid fuck had dragged them halfway across the country. "But I think I know what happened to her." He snickered. "She spawned and retired."

"Uzu.." Naomi's face crumpled up. With the foreigners gone, she had abandoned her attempts at stoicism. "Wasn't that the village that developed the bijuu sealing shit? With the special clan that were optimal containers?"

Mayumi's mouth moved for a moment, but she didn't say a thing. Then she gave a slow, horrible smile. "You know, that gives me an idea. What kind of profit do you think we could make off of a perfect vessel like that? Or even if no one wants to use her, I'm sure that Cloud, at least, would be very interested in making sure that career ends early. Mummy dearest didn't make a lot of friends."

Jun scoffed. "She's too old to forget her loyalty to Konoha and be controlled."

"Never too old to forget," Mayumi countered. "What, you think Konoha and those blonde bastards have the monopoly on interfering with minds? There's always a way. Any even if it doesn't work out and she ends up dead, there'll be no Red Chained Death 2.0".

* * *

Short plug- I'm co-writing a series of drabbles with my sister as she plays through Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, experiencing the sometimes hilariously inept storytelling of a fighting game. It's all the sillier because this is her first exposure to that storyline and it gives a tilted impression of the nuances that make more sense in the manga or if you're playing it drunk. The drabbles are sort of processing that experience- what makes no sense, what's unintentionally funny, and what would have made more sense at times. It's called 'A Storm of Ninjas' on Archer the Undreamed's profile. You should go look it up- it's in my favorites if searching is too troublesome.


	22. Chapter 22

"God fucking damnit shit!" Misumi screamed, ripping off the black cloth that had covered his face and irritably ruffling his short, dark hair. At Yoroi's chuckle, he veered around, fist swinging, ready to dislocate his bones into the soft physique style and strangle his teammate.

The taller man dodged with ease, and taunted "Get a grip, would you princess?"

Misumi's eyes narrowed. "Oh, fuck off," he spat before giving his teammates a condescending look. "Everything's gone to shit and you're making jokes? This is serious. What the hell are we supposed to do with Orochimaru dead, huh?" He shoved Yoroi.

The quiet sound of a throat clearing interrupted him. "Don't be so rude, Misumi-kun," Kabuto chided calmly, expression placid and body relaxed. "We're almost to Sound."

The shortest man present snorted. "There is no goddamn Sound. I betrayed Konoha for nothing. So much for everything Orochimaru promised us." Panic made his features ugly. "I guess I could see if anyone is willing to pay for your stupid hides," he jeered.

Kabuto gave a light sigh and Yoroi's lips quirked into a faint smile, moving away from the two.

Some long-disused alarm in Misumi's head started ringing, and he glared suspiciously at his teammates. He'd never liked them anyways. Getting stuck with a stupid medic and some jackass who stole chakra had been a criminal waste of his frontline taijutsu abilities. Orochimaru had promised him so much more than that when the skinny medic in front of him had recruited Misumi from the dregs of the genin corps. What the hell was he going to do now? They had been forced to flee Konoha after the invasion, knowing that their cover would have been broken soon even if no one had yet reported seeing Konoha genin fighting with Sound and Sand.

"Oh, Misumi-kun," Kabuto shook his head pityingly. "Have you no imagination? I was Orochimaru's second in command. We're going to Sound to take over operations. I already sent the Sound five out on a mission. Now that they answer to me, everyone will."

Misumi scowled, both at the overly familiar address and the idea that his scrawny medic teammate had what it took to lead a village. He opened his mouth to tell off the silver-haired idiot—and found himself surprised at how quickly Kabuto had moved to be directly in front of him, bending slightly to stare into his eyes. Misumi couldn't gauge what the other man was thinking, as the sunlight had caught Kabuto's glasses and was obscuring his eyes. Unnerved, he raised a hand to push Kabuto away.

Kabuto caught the movement with a painfully strong grip around Misumi's wrist that moved the bones in his joint around uncomfortably. "I'm afraid that I didn't mean you," he crooned. "Sound has little use for cowards." Then Misumi knew no more.

Kabuto sighed and used earth techniques to sink the freshly made corpse into the ground. Normally he might have sealed away the body for use later, but he didn't have the materials with him. "What a waste," he sighed. He'd invested hours into Misumi's genetic modifications, and now that was all lost. He huffed a quiet laugh, and continued on with his remaining teammate following silently, wondering if this was what Orochimaru had felt like when the seal he'd placed on the Uchiha had never really taken root. It was frustrating to see all that work wasted. No wonder the man had experienced a fit of temper when he sensed the reinforcements coming in. He would have known immediately that Anko would know to suppress the seal before it had a chance to take hold. Perhaps given later action the situation would have been salvageable, but now that Orochimaru had passed and the seal couldn't feed off his chakra, Sasuke-kun's seal was probably just a tattoo.

It was actually more surprising that Orochimaru hadn't killed Sasuke-kun's other teammate out of spite. The original plan had called for leaving one of them alive to protect the Uchiha while the seal seared into his flesh and chakra, but once it had become obvious that Anko and her ANBU team (and therefore plenty of others) knew he was in the forest that the boy would never be allowed to wait out the test.

His takeover of Sound went as smoothly as he had predicted. Kabuto had proven himself by beating the Sound Five, and ninja trained in Sound learned to reluctantly bend their necks to larger predators. He expected plenty of attempts on his life, of course, but that was par for the course.

Really, the biggest problem was figuring out his next course of action. Kabuto sighed, assigning Yoroi as his bodyguard (he didn't need it, but it was better to keep one of his more reliable tools at hand) and taking stock of the medical bay. Tayuya had been more than a little bit upset about being sent on an errand to re-supply the human material for his experiments, but the indignity was necessary. On his own, Kabuto was solidly high Jounin level for combat. His major strengths lay in his medical abilities and genetic modifications. In order to rule over this snake pit, he would have to increase the pace of his experimentations and augmentations, and science required (and produced) heaps of corpses.

_'Perhaps Orochimaru had the right idea about Sasuke-kun,'_ he mused to himself, flipping on the lights of his dank laboratory. The lack of sanitation would be something to fix now that he was in charge—he put more stock in practicalities and less in theatricalities than Orochimaru had done. _'I have always liked the look of the Sharingan.'_

For now, of course, it would be difficult to go on his own. Luckily, he didn't have to. Kabuto quickly made arrangements to meet with one of his most profitable contacts. The man still thought he was a sleeper agent for Akatsuki, of course, and would see no reason not to lend assistance. Sasori of the Red Sand would be an invaluable ally. Sound knew it was weak, and they needed leverage to keep the wolves at bay—the Leaf and Sand would doubtlessly be coming for their heads when they had licked their wounds.

* * *

"Stealth training my ass," Naruto grumbled irritably to himself, crouched on a ceiling. He carefully picked his way across the room, following the vague description his mentor had given him before flouncing off to harass some poor girl.

It was a bit of an indignity—Jiraiya wasn't even here to grade him on his performance. However, he had been told that if he couldn't manage to get to the meeting room unseen before Jiraiya and his contact did, then he wasn't fit to be an apprentice.

He froze, muscles locking and breath stilling to a pattern so slow that he could hardly hear it himself. It took a few seconds for him to actually hear what he had somehow sensed. Someone was coming along the corridor. Naruto flattened against the ceiling like a tree frog, letting the vague camouflage genjutsu the pervert had taught him ripple over his body. It had seemed like a strange choice—no one had ever thought he had the intelligence and control to cast genjutsu before.

It hadn't been an easy trick to pick up, and Naruto had been stupidly relieved to have finally mastered it. Control (for a jinchuuriki at least) seemed to be a long, boring process involving a lot of meditation and mastery of techniques involving gradually less chakra. He wasn't entirely certain when he would ever use the jutsu that crushed a small rock in his hand into chakra-infused earth or the one that allowed him to manifest a thin blade of wind-natured chakra that could only cut through something like paper, but by kami he had mastered them.

The figure finally passed by with light steps that hinted they were either a genin level ninja or a civilian with special skills like a dancer. It really was just a figure, because in that long cloak and with his poor night vision Naruto had no idea whether he'd been looking at a man or a woman. Naruto carefully sniffed the air to be sure the person had actually left and not just lurked around the corner.

The old man had been surprised by how excellent Naruto's hearing and sense of smell were (and then made a ton of dumb jokes about how loud he was and how bad ramen smelled) but had given him a basic introduction into using senses other than sight for tracking. He'd never be on Kakashi's level or even Aiko's (she'd picked up a lot of tricks in an apprenticeship to a tracker) but he could pretty well tell that the person really had continued on.

He picked his way through the house, stopping in the kitchen to grab a peach scented candy on impulse (crumpling the yellow wrapper in his pocket politely instead of leaving it around) before he finally found the room he'd been told to locate.

_'He didn't give me a lot to work with._' Naruto tried not to pout, thinking of this as a mission instead of a test. He liked missions much better. The room was large and open, with a table set up for tea ceremony and flowers in vases all around. There was a screen, but he immediately discarded that as far too obvious as a hiding place.

No doubt the old pervert would know he was there— especially since he'd told Naruto to listen in—but he had been told to do his best to hide.

A wicked thought occurred, and Naruto gave a wide grin that Iruka would have known meant trouble. He dropped to the floor silently and carefully pulled out one of the flower arrangements without disturbing the alignment. He didn't know what this one said, but he knew that the colors, varieties, and placements of flowers spelled a message. Ruining it would be clumsy and a dead giveaway. He hustled with the vase to a side room he had recently passed and dumped all the water out in the sink, heaving a relieved sigh when no odds and ends from flowers colored the drain. He didn't want to risk the noise of turning on the water.

The trip back to the room took less than a minute, and he carefully placed the vase back in place, the flowers almost entirely back in so that gravity would fix it if he let go, and then flipped onto the wall beside the arrangement and used his free hand to help him concentrate his chakra for the second water technique his sister had ever taught him with his head directly over the lip of the vase. "Hiding in the water," he barely breathed aloud, slipping into liquid and letting his body condense into the purple tinted vase.

It was an unpleasant feeling, especially when the flowers slid down into the water that his body had become, but he metaphorically grinned and bore it for what felt like hours before the pervert shuffled into the room behind an older woman in traditional clothing and a grumpy expression.

The meeting that followed was boring and Naruto barely managed to pay enough attention to prove he had been close enough to hear what went on. Jiraiya gave the room strange looks when his partner looked away, checking the ceiling, that screen, and even under the table. His field of vision barely managed to include the table, so Naruto couldn't be sure he caught everything that went on. He definitely noticed when his teacher starting looking over the flowers with a strange amount of attention.

He was reminded of the many flaws of this jutsu when the adults left the room and it was time to get out. Hiding in the water created a sort of wiggly space where his body was compressed within whatever shape the water took. That meant that he couldn't really control the water. It would have been easiest to simply end the jutsu and explode out of the bottle, letting whatever mess happened be and fleeing. But…

It would be a little rude to make a mess like that, and also give a pretty big hint that someone had been in that room. He was supposed to be proving that he was sneaky, after all.

Naruto coiled up as best as he could, trying to shoot upwards out of the vase and materialize as he passed the lip of the glassware. It sort of worked—the vase didn't break or go anywhere, but the flowers shot out with him, flopping awkwardly onto the ground and table.

Suppressing the urge to heave a sigh, Naruto gathered up the flora and put in back in the order it had been as best as he could. He had never really learned ikebana properly, but all ninja underwent memory training that would help them reconstruct a scene exactly. A few petals had been mangled, so Naruto pocketed them and climbed the wall back up to the ceiling. He hurried his way through the building—not the way that he had entered, as he had spotted a large open window on his way in and he was in a hurry to get back to where he was meeting Jiraiya.

The toad sage himself was a little baffled, chewing idly on a bit of grass and relaxing in the sun. The woman he'd met had been a real bummer, but she wasn't his contact. His contact had been the one to take the appointment for the meeting and prepare the room with messages encoded in ikebana and the type of tea served.

It had taken him an embarrassingly long time to spot the chakra-dense water that was his wayward genin. In his defense, the boy had seemed a bit thick and Jiraiya had been almost certain he would use the genjutsu he had been taught to hide in the room. The use of what appeared to be hiding in the water was even more baffling because Jiraiya knew damn well that the kid's primary affinity was wind. Maybe water was his secondary? Still, it was strange that he would know that jutsu at all.

When the windswept blonde dropped into a seated position at his feet and gave a long stretch, Jiraiya eyed the kid up. Something twitched in his left eye when he realized the brat had a bit of flora in his hair, but he didn't mention it.

"Where did you learn hiding in the water, and why didn't you tell me?"

Naruto gave him a strange look. "Aiko taught me."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "What for, gaki? There was no reason for you to learn water transformations."

The boy snorted. "Shows what you know. I could never use the tiny amount of chakra to make an Academy standard bunshin," he explained idly. "So Aiko taught me the water transformation one. It was a major pain," he groused with a pout. His expression brightened a moment later when he added that "learning a second water transformation was much easier."

The toad sannin didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry. This kid had the strangest learning habits he'd ever encountered. Teaching Minato had been like teaching a much more intelligent version of himself—he started with basics and progressed with frightening speed up to expert level material. But Naruto was learning things that Jiraiya considered level zero like geography, tactics for low-pressure situations, and chakra control at the same time that he had apparently mastered the Chuunin level skill of completing an elemental transformation that wasn't the user's first type. Either Aiko was a hell of a teacher (and knew her student well) or Naruto was not the idiot he seemed. He didn't want to dismiss his goddaughter's influence out of hand, but he was now pretty damn sure that Naruto was actually a really clever kid.

The headache he felt at that moment was remarkably similar to the one he'd felt when the brat had picked up Rasengan in less than two weeks. Sure, it took less time to learn a jutsu than it did to invent it, but two weeks was ridiculous. It'd taken him longer than that, and he was much more experienced.

The thought occurred that perhaps the underwhelming reports he'd gotten about his godson's performance said more about the teaching methods than the student.

_'Maybe I shouldn't try to hammer all the baby stuff into his head,' _Jiraiya mused, staring thoughtfully off into space while his student gave him a weird look for his long silence. _'He doesn't have genin level understanding of approved procedures, but I'm not sure he needs to. The kid comes up with unconventional solutions.' _Maybe it was just the way that the kid thought. He came at problems sideways instead of head on like a samurai or by sneaking around to the back like a ninja. If he couldn't predict how Naruto would deal with a problem, an enemy almost certainly wouldn't.

Using a water transformation to hide inside had actually been a rather clever trick. It was nontraditional to be sure, and he couldn't count that there would always be water around like that to use. Naruto had the benefit of crazy amounts of chakra—he would be able to maintain jutsu like that far longer than his peers. At his age, Jiraiya probably would not have been able to maintain the jutsu throughout that meeting, to say nothing of however long beforehand he had waited. It wasn't a trick that just anyone could use. That in mind…

"Kid, I'm going to teach you a non-elemental clone technique."

Naruto squawked indignantly. "What the hell for, old man!" He pointed accusingly. "You just don't want to teach me anything good!"

Jiraiya felt the irritation come creeping back. "Brat, I'm the teacher here!" he roared into Naruto's face. "This is way better than a water clone! Shadow clones are solid and can retain information. They're perfect for spying like what you just did, and you don't have to be the one crouched inside a vase."

Naruto blinked up at him. "So I could have shadow clones use hiding in water?"

"No," Jiraiya said shortly. '_Stupid. I mean, he could, but that would be pointless expenditure of chakra and an extra step.'_ Before Naruto could protest, he continued firmly, "Shadow clones can use henge. Since they're not material like you and I are, their henge can be an object of significantly smaller mass. Like a vase," he said pointedly. "So. For all I care, you could transform into a rubber duck and hide out in the hotsprings. Won't be able to see anything unless what you transform into has eyes, though."

That was an important caveat, and the main reason that he didn't get a lot more use out of the shadow clone technique. That and the fact that it had a hideous chakra cost, but what did that matter to an Uzumaki jinchuuriki? He could prance around all damn day blasting grand fireballs out his ass and it wouldn't matter.

He resolved not to make that statement aloud. Naruto might take it as a challenge to invent that version of the grand fireball. The kid hadn't been taught the regular version, of course, but he was determined enough that little things like facts might not stop him.

The boy rolled his eyes, but grumbled agreement. "But you gotta teach me something cool after this," he added hastily.

Jiraiya gave serious thought to using shadow clones to beat the hell out of the kid in taijutsu for a moment. The smile that crept over his features caused his student to inch backwards and eye him warily, but he didn't notice. It _would_ be easier and less dangerous to teach him how to deal with multiple opponents that way than by finding real fights, he justified to himself. If he allowed each clone to only use certain things—one would use academy standard taijutsu, one would use what Kakashi had beat into his head, and one would pretend to be water type, etc, etc… then he could do a pretty good job of simulating the experience of dealing with multiple fighting styles at the same time that he actually taught the kid different fighting styles.

Plus it would shut him the hell up for a long time while he struggled not to get the crap kicked out of him.

"Alright, gaki. Pay attention." He slowly ran through a sequence of handsigns for Naruto's benefit. "This is how you initially learn it, maintaining constant chakra output from just one gate as you move through this sequence. You'll have to figure out the rate that's best for you- obviously, more chakra equals more clones but I want you to master one at a time to be sure you know what you're doing. When you have it ready, you hit it with about twice the amount of chakra you'll think you need all at once. Once you've got it down, we're going to cut off a handsign one at a time until you can do this with only the cross. Luckily for you, this technique requires flooding your limit gate with chakra and not any real control. So I don't want you embarrassing me by wasting time with ten handsigns."

* * *

Uzumaki Karin had never thought of herself as a front line fighting type. She had known since she entered the academy that she had brains and sensing abilities that surpassed those of Jounin. Sure, she also had the enormous chakra reserves that characterized a front-line fighter, but she had possessed the foresight to downplay that as an ace in the hole. Since she had hidden her ability as a jutsu type (and done so _too well_, as no one had taught her a single jutsu back in Grass) and rather honestly been merely competent with weapons and taijutsu, she had been accustomed to her peers dismissing her as dead weight on a mission.

It was true, after all. Her speed was poor and she had no more combat ability than any other fresh genin.

She had assumed that she would be able to design some sort of specialty. Karin had the intelligence and patience to do well as a poisons analyst or work in code-breaking.

"And if it weren't for these Konoha dorks, I would have gotten away with it too," she groused to the empty clearing from her position slumped on the ground. Painstakingly (and that was meant in a literal sense) she drew her legs up and began yet another round of sit-ups.

It was both stupidly unfair and highly flattering that the Hokage herself had commented that Karin had been wasting her potential. Even if she had gone the medic route in Grass, she was relatively certain that her training wouldn't be this difficult. In a way that made sense— Konoha was renowned for their medical program. In another way it didn't—why the hell did a medic have to physically work hard enough to keep up with peers who were concentrating solely on combat ability? She was stretched thin between the endless reading and paper tests, the refinement of her Mystical Palm technique, her hours at the hospital, and physical conditioning.

So of course that crazy woman had given her yet another responsibility. Starting next week, she would be dealing with about half a class of third year students at the academy in an attempt to teach them to produce medical chakra. Tsunade apparently had the bright idea to get a medic onto every squad, starting terrifyingly young. The students who didn't make the genin cut would be shipped straight off to the hospital and free up highly trained personnel instead of going into the genin corps. Karin thought that Tsunade was nuts but hadn't been quite brave enough to say that. As she pouted, Sasuke and Aiko came running back to the clearing neck and neck. She gave them a dirty look, resenting that they were so far ahead of her in the workout. It was difficult to be so fabulous.

Being fabulous became even harder once her classes started up. Karin hadn't had anything to do with the selection of her students. Medical ninjutsu had simply been added onto the curriculum in the same way that students could pursue an extra projectile weapon—it was extra work so not everyone wanted to do it, but the class was populated both by the students working to maintain top rankings and those who had been counseled that they might do well in it.

At least the standards for the class weren't too high. Karin blew her shaggy bangs off her face with pursed lips and stalked up and down the rows, watching fourteen boys and girls straining to manage the initial manifestation. They had to be taught how to gather normal chakra to their hands first before they could learn to switch it to medical chakra by separating their own elemental affinity out of the mix. Medical chakra was a bit like type O blood—it was compatible with everyone because it didn't have any special properties.

Obviously, it was far from intuitive and required either a prodigious talent in chakra control or the intense familiarity with their chakra system that came from years of experience. Failing that, this type of class could try to force students to cram chakra control down their throats through sheer repetition.

She thoroughly expected this to be a miserable waste of her time, but hey. Orders were orders.

* * *

I had the hardest time getting this chapter out. Oddly, an entire chapter without Aiko (nominally the main character) in it, and only one of the scenes is one I intended to write. e.e If that bothers you... I don't know, repress it or something because she's going to have to wait until next chapter. :)

Note- As soon as I had posted this I instantly remembered how to write the things that I want to write. Ridiculous. This was edited for minor errors 1/18/2014, the day after the original posting.


	23. Chapter 23

"Don't be such a brat, Hatake," Tsunade practically snarled when the man finally reported two hours late for the full mission briefing. Anko had given her report and left over an hour ago, but Aiko had waited. It was easiest to find her sensei by lurking around places he eventually had to be.

Aiko and poor Sasuke did their best to be invisible without actually employing any genjutsu while Tsunade raged, cursing like a sailor interspersed with the occasional shriek and the thud of whatever she could grab hitting walls. (The use of chakra sometimes draws the attention of predators larger than oneself, a tip from Konoha's shinobi handbook page 147).

Shizune merely demonstrated her hard-won immunity to Tsunade's frightening atmosphere by rolling her eyes and walking right out of the office. The Hokage pointed unerringly at Aiko. She cringed. "If that brat is still a Chuunin, I'll eat my fucking bra! She's getting promoted and that's final. We need all the Jounin we can get."

Kakashi slumped back against the wall and waved his hand at the thirteen year olds looking spectacularly uncomfortable. "Maa, why don't you two go get drinks and let the grown-ups talk?"

Sasuke outright bolted, making it halfway to the stairs before Tsunade could call out angrily for them to stop. Aiko lingered a little, torn between the desire to flee the woman throwing paperweights through walls and her curiosity. The conversation was about her, after all.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama," Kakashi began in a not-particularly-respectful way, "That decision is mine to make. Not yours. It has always been the purview of an instructor to determine their apprentice ready to move up."

"I'm your Hokage," she snarled, looking downright feral. "You're being ridiculous. It's not a death sentence to get an early promotion. You did yourself, for crap's sake and you know damn well that I can go over your head with this."

Kakashi sighed and straightened, giving her a deadpan expression that indicated he was not impressed by her argument. "Are you really sure you don't want the kid to leave?" he tried one more time. Then he shrugged. "Fine."

_'I'm not a kid,_' Aiko quietly pouted. She did her best not to let the thought show on her face but almost certainly failed.

"I know that she isn't ready for this promotion in part because I wasn't, so don't tell me that I'm being a hypocrite," Kakashi droned, giving Aiko an uncharacteristically sharp look. She was wise enough to look sheepish. "And no. You can't go over my head. When I agreed to take an apprentice, I had stipulations. Granted, I think that the Sandaime was just humoring me, but he signed them. They're all nice and legal." He visibly dismissed Tsunade, looking idly up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers to the universe's questions. The woman was red-faced and practically shaking with fury.

'_She doesn't deal well with having her authority challenged, does she?'_ Aiko mused._ 'It may have been better if I weren't here for this conversation. This… is probably a little embarrassing for her.'_

She wasn't entirely sure why her sensei was so insistent about stopping her promotion to Jounin. Aiko didn't mind it, though. Kakashi was one of the few people left in Konoha that she really cared about. She respected Tsunade, but she would support Kakashi over her. He almost certainly had a good reason for blocking her promotion. Besides, there weren't many perks to that promotion. She would probably be removed from Kakashi's team and sent on more dangerous missions.

_'Actually, that might be the problem,_' Aiko noted. '_Sensei is a little protective. In his weird little way_.'

"Whenever you get your filing system figured out, you can read them yourself. If that's too much trouble, I suppose I could go get my copy. I made certain to use small words when I drafted the document, so you should be able to get through it even if Shizune is still irritated with you for acting like a spoiled child." Aiko tried to melt into the floor. He was definitely provoking her on purpose.

_'The man is kinda nuts.' _

Nuts or not, once again Kakashi-sensei left triumphant. The victory was slightly marred by the fact that he had been assigned a mission out of the village that, as Tsunade sneered, Aiko would not be able to accompany him on because she did not have Jounin clearance. _'Petty_,' Aiko sighed. "Hey, sensei," she started quietly. (Her ears were still ringing.) "Dinner? My treat. I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had involving my chakra chains."

"Shishou."

Aiko blinked, a bit confused. "Uh, what?"

"Kakashi-shishou. I'm not your genin sensei anymore and I'm probably not going to take another team. So you're my apprentice." The words were delivered in an off-hand manner, but she was a bit stunned. It was a generous offer (not that he'd phrased it as an offer, the bastard).

Sure, she had technically been classified as his apprentice so that he could take a genin team. But Aiko had thought that was a legal thing. He'd never asked her to refer to him as anything other than 'sensei'.

Aiko felt her eyes begin to water in a very dignified, grown-up way. She honestly hadn't expected that. But his possessiveness made a lot of sense when she thought about it. He had just lost three students in the course of a month—one to the shinigami, one out of the goddamn country with a very powerful but inattentive master, and the third to Tsunade. In some way, he probably thought Tsunade was trying to take away his last student.

Still, mitigating factors or not, it was pretty damn prestigious to be taken as an apprentice instead of just a student.

Aiko sniffled, wiping at her face and giving him a winning smile. "Hai, shishou!"

He eyed her suspiciously. "I'm not going out to dinner with you if you're going to cry," he warned seriously.

She shook her head. "No, I just blinked and an eyelash got in my eye. I'm totally cool, promise."

"Right." He rolled his eye and set off down the street. "I think I want barbeque," he mused out loud.

His apprentice gracefully accepted the subject change and followed him to a restaurant she knew well—it was one that Ino liked. _'You know… If I'm his apprentice now, maybe I should try to emulate him._' Aiko did her best not to snicker. It was traditional, after all. A shishou was a guide for behavior and habits as well as ninjutsu—not just a teacher, but a role model. Plus… it would be really amusing. _'Who am I to spurn tradition?'_

As it turned out, Kakashi-shishou did think that her idea was plausible. She had noticed that her chakra chains were heavily tinged with her water-natured chakra affinity, and wondered if it was possible to use nature transformations with them. As they were currently, her chains were just really large and versatile weapons—good for tying people or bashing them to death, and very difficult to break. (To her knowledge they were unbreakable, but it was stupid to assume that there wasn't a way just because she didn't know of it).

Since she had already gone through the trouble of learning lightning transformation and could now coerce her coils into generating lightning-natured chakra, well… Aiko resisted the urge to cackle as best as she could while she explained that she wanted to be able to electrocute with her chains since they would be excellent conductors.

"That is overkill," her shishou commented crisply, for once looking mostly engaged in the conversation. "Who do you plan on fighting, the sage of six paths? I think I can help you with it." He fixed her with a stern glare. "If you electrocute me again, however…." His voice trailed off.

"I will try to resist the urge," she grumbled, a little embarrassed. On the other side of the booth, a man she suspected was an Akimichi stifled what seemed to be a laugh.

She hadn't conducted even initial experimentation yet, because it had seemed like a stupid idea to try before asking someone who she knew had gone through the experience of making his own lightning natured technique. Frankly, she wasn't particularly eager to electrocute herself. After Kakashi returned from his mission and she managed to lure him out of his apartment with food (she was a good cook and he never seemed to have anything in his apartment), she tried for the first time under his supervision at training ground seven.

Now that she had done it, it was almost criminally easy to manifest her chakra chains again. She pointedly made only three—one to experiment on, and the other two as a control group. Her shishou had pointed out that it would be important to know if it was possible to change just one chain to lightning nature or if they would all change.

All three of them fizzled out of existence when she tried to change just one. Aiko blinked stupidly, not quite understanding what had happened.

"I wondered about that," Kakashi commented lazily. "Uzumaki chakra chains only seem to manifest in members with water-natured chakra. I don't think you'll be able to have lightning natured chains."

Aiko scowled in thought, displeased at the development. "But does that mean that I can't attach something like a chakra thread of another nature around it?" she asked after a long silence. Her teacher gave her a strange look. She hurried to demonstrate by manifesting a string and flipping her coils. "See, I can already do that. Remember that I used to think that the chakra chains worked along the same lines as chakra thread for puppeteering? I worked with those until I thought I was going to be sick."

Kakashi slapped a gloved palm to his forehead and shook his head, snickering.

"What?" she asked, offended.

"That is the most ridiculously wasteful technique I have ever heard of," he pointed out, sounding amused.

Aiko snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, whatever. Chakra threads use nothing." She demonstrated by splitting the line she was manipulating into six and wiggling it. He stilled, a strange look on his face.

"I've never seen anyone outside of Suna use more than one at once."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Why? It's not that hard, and the control required isn't even up to introductory medical techniques."

"It's not a matter of difficulty per say," he started, indicating that she should maintain the strings while he walked around and checked how nuanced her control was. "The payoff isn't generally worth it. For anyone other than a puppet master, conventional wisdom says that there's no benefit to using more than one at once. For most shinobi chakra threads are an ace in the hole for when they've lost their weapons or something similar. Believe it or not, they do require a fair bit of chakra for a rookie, and by the time most shinobi get to be Chuunin they already have specialties that are much more effective than anything they could do with threads like those."

"So… my idea is worthless?" she pouted. At least they were still pretty—when she charged them with lightning natured chakra, her strings positively glittered like threads of gold.

Her shishou shook his head. "I don't think so. There's a chance that you could make your idea work, but the threads would have to be ridiculously long to be useful," he cautioned. "In order for them to wrap around the threads enough times that you can be sure they'll touch whoever you'll be touching with them, they'll have to be easily three times the length of the chains."

"That's easy enough," she muttered, trying it out.

It wasn't that easy. When she pooled the threads out long enough to be useful at all, she found that control was becoming an issue after all.

She sat cross-legged on the ground with a thump, quietly manipulating them as best as she could to figure out her limitations.

"Well, it's an interesting idea," Kakashi sighed, pulling out his book. "But it will take far more control than you currently have to make it useful at all. Remember, not only will you have to simultaneously maintain two techniques of different chakra natures, but you'll have to be able to independently control them at much larger distances than you're used to."

"In other words, chakra control exercises are next," she said miserably, unfolding her legs to sit like a rag doll, heels digging into the warm soil. She had never been prone to neglecting the basics, but it was depressing to have to work on control when she had something she wanted to develop that was infinitely more interesting.

* * *

Sasuke sat down across from Karin in the hospital break room, clutching onto a cup of coffee for dear life. Somehow, he hadn't expected that he would have to do the same type of grunt work other medic trainees did when he accepted Tsunade's training offer.

That had been a mistake.

Karin delicately backed up in her chair so that she wasn't in the direct path of her fellow trainee's glower. "So, long day?" she inquired. She knew it had been. Apparently, a new group of Academy trainees had gone through their first real taijutsu lesson (when they began sparring instead of just learning kata), and the waiting room had been filled with skinny eight year olds covered in bruises and scrapes. The initial injuries were actually an intentional part of the lesson—a way for Academy teachers to ensure that students knew how to get treatment at the hospital.

It was also unfortunately a training exercise for beginning medics who were qualified to treat minor injuries but had no real experience working on adjusting to foreign chakra systems and practicing their bedside manner.

Tsunade had given hilariously little training in bedside mannerisms, Karin had noted while Sasuke bulldozed through a list of jumpy kids with a white-knuckled grip on his clipboard and an expression that indicated he was considering using it to bludgeon his way to freedom. _She,_ on the other hand, had been given strict rules and expectations about how she talked to patients.

With her temper, she had already been wrestling with that requirement much more than the actual act of healing, which she had a talent for. Two days ago some dirty old man had grabbed at her leg when she was getting a needle off the cart for an injection. It had been a tactical error. She had smiled sweetly without comment and _accidentally failed_ to find his vein eighteen times.

She had been roundly chewed out. Something about stabbing civilians when proper procedure would be to refer them to hospital security and file sexual harassment charges?

"I had three patients who were apparently brutalized by the same Hyuuga," he deadpanned. "I'm going to be coaxing open tenketsu in my dreams."

Karin winced. "Hanabi?"

Dark eyes glared at her over his coffee. "That's her name? Little monster." She snorted, hiding her amusement at the undue hatred for a pre-genin. If he hadn't ended up having to clean up after Hanabi, Sasuke probably wouldn't have cared one way or another if the girl had decided to break two wrists a day during recess in between tea parties with pink plastic cups.

"I get the impression that she isn't as gentle as Hinata," Karin settled for diplomatically. That was an understatement. From what she understood, Hanabi was a horrible little brat and personally she thought that Hinata would be much better off if the girl hadn't been born. But Hinata was her friend, and there was something of an unspoken rule of friendship that included not telling girls that you'd prefer if their beloved little sister had never existed.

'_Even when that brat is the reason they branded Hinata like a cow_,' she fumed, pulling her yoghurt out of the fridge and moodily stabbing through the tin lid. The assessment might not have been fair—it wasn't Hanabi who had made the claim that by not even making a good showing in the Tournament she had embarrassed her family. But it _was_ Hanabi who beat Hinata down in a spar with unnecessary prejudice the day before they put the caged bird seal on Hinata. Karin had been in the hospital (changing bedpans and being grumpy about it) when Hinata came in, silently crying after apparently having a painful reaction to her new tattoo. She was both glad that she didn't belong to a clan like that and **absolutely fucking livid** that they had done that to such a gentle girl. Hinata had explained that she was only having so much trouble because the seal was only meant to be placed on children, as if that somehow mitigated the horror of what the Hyuuga did to their own kin.

Now that she'd been reminded, Karin promised herself that she would check in on Hinata after she got off work. The poor girl had been stressed lately. She had suffered even worse nerves than usual after the sealing, which Karin didn't blame her for. It was a pretty resounding proof that her family didn't value her.

In addition to her family troubles and self esteem issues, Hinata was also dealing with disruption in her routine. Kurenai was the last Jounin sensei out of their circle of acquaintances to return from her emergency duties. An Academy class had been cycled through condensed training in the month and a half since the invasion and had been deployed to fill the genin ranks, leaving more experienced genin to take Chuunin promotions (some of them were even prepared for those promotions). Unfortunately, that also meant that unprepared Chuunin had been promoted to Jounin to fill those ranks. Really, the only group that hadn't seen a sudden increase in mission injuries were the genin (both in-village and those attached to elite Jounin sensei).

She found the girl with Shino on training grounds 8, doing dodging exercises while he apparently worked on his throwing. Karin leaned against a tree with one foot bent up against the trunk and waited, hands shoved inside the pockets of her dress for protection from the chill. It was a windy day, and she eventually conceded defeat and tied her hair back while she waited for her friend to finish training for the day. After a few minutes, the boy paused in his shuriken assault long enough to give her an inscrutable look.

"Hinata. Do you wish to stop for the day?"

She startled like a frightened rabbit, catching the last weapon between her fingertips instead of dodging it. "W-what?"

He inclined his head towards Karin, shoving his hands inside his coat. He was probably cold too, Karin noted with an amused sniff and a hidden smile. Hinata swiveled around almost enough for a normal human to move Karin into their range of vision and visibly relaxed. "Oh! Karin-chan," she breathed.

"Yo." Karin waved before shoving her hand back into her pockets quickly. "If you're done, I make killer hot chocolate."

Shino frowned. "What does it kill? Is it poisoned? Who is the target?"

Karin's jaw dropped and she gave him a bizarre look before noting that Hinata looked equally interested in the answer_. 'Ugh, ninja can be so hopeless,_' she groaned. "Look, it's just an expression alright? It means that it's really good and I was inviting her back to my house. You're welcome to come too, if you'd like," she added politely. She was pretty sure he wasn't interested, but she didn't want to snub him either.

"Oh," they both said almost in unison. Hinata looked relieved, but her teammate looked disappointed. Karin heaved a sigh.

"Anyway, if you're not done I can wait," she offered, pushing at her glasses and frowning at the way they were fogging up. Hinata tilted her chin towards her teammate and began fiddling with her fingers. Karin pulled off her glasses and wiped them on her shirt before putting them back on just in time to see Shino look faintly amused.

"I think that it would be optimal for the two of us to be done with training for the day. I have yet to eat dinner, and I am certain that you are hungry as well, Hinata." He reached out and plucked his shuriken from Hinata's hand, then strode over to the far side of the clearing and began gathering his weaponry. "Thank you for the invitation, Karin-san, but I am expected at home." She nodded in acknowledgment and the girls hustled to assist him in picking weaponry. Hinata easily found the most, but Karin felt her addition of six kunai, two shuriken and a flat blade she didn't recognize was a respectable contribution to the clean-up for a practice she hadn't been part of.

"Thank you, Hinata, Karin-san." Shino gave a short bow.

Karin bowed in return, quickly followed by Hinata. "Good night, Shino-san."

"Good night, Shino-kun!" Hinata eeped when Karin grabbed at her arm and began hustling across the training grounds, burrowing into her coat for protection against the wind.

"Come on, it is _way_ too cold to linger out here." She pulled the other girl into a run, crossing the dirt paths that led to downtown with top haste. They slowed down when they made it into Konoha proper where the tall buildings provided a wind break, and Karin gave a long stretch and yawn. "What do you think about making tekkamaki?"

As it turned out, they ran into Aiko at the grocery store, who must have been thinking of dinner as well. She was staring at the chocolate section with a vaguely stupid look on her face, so Karin took the opportunity to tug on one of her curls. She laughed in the taller redhead's face when she whirled around, barely avoiding whacking Hinata with her basket. Aiko gave Karin a dirty look. "Oh. It's you," she said flatly, grabbing a chocolate bar off the shelf at random and stuffing it into her empty basket. "Hello, Hinata. How are you?"

While Hinata muttered a greeting of some sort and fidgeted, Karin briskly informed her cousin that they were having tekkamaki and strode off in search of sushi-grade tuna. She was less than surprised when Aiko got a thoughtful expression and declared that she wanted to make sweet potato hosumaki as well. Aiko had a strange fondness for vegetables that Karin would rather leave alone. At least it wasn't _thrice-damned_ **_ramen_**.

The three girls collected everything they needed, Hinata awkwardly lugging a large bottle of the watermelon flavored water she liked to drink in the morning, and waved at a bored-looking Nara Shikamaru following around a woman dressed in tan who must be his mother (she had a similar nose and a no-nonsense attitude that manifested in the way she shoved heavy items in the basket he was carrying) before heading out the door.

While they had gone to the closest grocery store, there was still quite a walk back to the Uzumaki residence. There were very few civilian-ran establishments in the largely shinobi areas of town, so it was probably lucky that they were all in excellent physical condition. Still, Karin was relieved when they reached the garden out front.

Karin somehow managed to pry her cold fingers out from under her bag, tucking it against her chest with her open arm, and nudged open the door with a foot. She flounced in first, leaving her sandals in a messy heap and slipping into her glittery red house shoes before tripping into the house and dumping the large paper sack in her arms onto the table. Hinata and Aiko exchanged amused glances, pushing their shoes up much more neatly against the sides of the room before Aiko dug out her own blue slippers (a fluffy affair with sparkly green turtles that Naruto had ripped off cheap necklaces and sewn on as a joke gift). Hinata was such a frequent houseguest in the last month that Karin had actually gone and purchased her a personal pair of slippers (Karin didn't believe in communal shoes, they were the devil's work). Of course, since Karin had picked them, they didn't much suit Hinata at all, but she gamely slipped them on and somehow managed to look pleased as punch about wearing hot pink shoes. She was probably just grateful to feel welcome somewhere. Judging by how often she slept over, Karin was really certain that all was not well at the Hyuuga home.

"I think I have this pretty well in hand," Aiko called, striding into the kitchen and flipping on the lights. "The kitchen is a bit too small for three cooks." Karin shrugged and barely managed to rescue an orange from rolling off the table—she wasn't much of a cook anyways.

"Fine by me, but tell me when you're almost done so I can start hot chocolate. Hey, Hinata, want to put in a movie?" Karin punched on the television and cast an inquiring look at her friend.

"Oh, yum," Aiko mumbled to herself, clattering around for a cutting board.

Hinata looked between the two before gracefully picking her way into the living room. The cat sleeping in the exact center of the couch opened one eye sleepily to glare at her and then closed it again. "Ano, where are the movies?"

"I think most of them are in my room," Aiko called absentmindedly. Karin rolled her eyes. Aiko had the weird habit of dragging the movies into her bedroom. There wasn't a television in there, but she did have nearly floor-to-ceiling shelves where she stored a downright frightening amount of books. The top left shelf was all movies in perfect alphabetical order, pushed back against the wall so that none of them stuck out. Books were arranged similarly below. Her cousin was pretty weird sometimes. Who cared if their books and movies were in alphabetical order? Karin was much more likely to have a pile of her ten favorites by her bedside, coffee table, and by the television.

Nonetheless, she led her friend into Aiko's room because she knew Hinata would be uncomfortable going into someone's bedroom alone. Hinata's eyes widened at the ridiculous display of books. "I've never heard of most of these," she said quietly, running her gaze over the titles. "The little red book of writing?" Hinata squinted. "…historical fashion? Icha Icha Make- eep!" Hinata pulled her hands back, flushing bright red. "Ah, she has an eclectic collection," the girl practically squeaked, turning her attention back to the movies and wrapping her arms around her body.

Karin snorted. "You're telling me," she groused. "I think she wrote like a third of them. The ones with the unlabeled covers—see, they're just dimestore books, like for notes and sketches and stuff. She won't let me read them though. I bet they're **really** bad." She poked at a green and purple hard cover.

"I'm sure they're good," Hinata said rather loyally, grabbing one of the few titles she was familiar with off the top shelf. Karin leaned in to check the title and was relieved to see it was actually one of the ones she had purchased—a historical drama about a samurai and the girl he married. Spoiler- she was an undercover kunoichi who had been hired to ensure he failed, but it all worked out when she defected.

"Nice," she approved. In the front room she lit the cherry blossom scented tea candles that Aiko kept on tea saucers for some reason and pulled out extra pillows and blankets from the hall cupboard.

"Karin, if you want to start hot chocolate now would be a good time," Aiko called from the other room.

"Oh, crap. Coming!" Karin hustled in, Hinata following at her heels like a duckling. The brunette settled at the kitchen table politely and flipped through the book sitting there- a guide to native flora and fauna with medicinal uses that Karin had left out the night before.

"Did you know that Sasuke signed Tsunade's summoning contract?" Karin half-asked, half informed while she pulled open the cupboard and withdrew measuring cups and a pot. She'd found that out on break. Hinata sounded politely interested, but Aiko made a genuinely baffled face at the news.

"It seems really early in his apprenticeship to start that, doesn't it?" She scraped perfectly seasoned rice out of the pot and into a bowl and started cutting dried nori, moving to the side to give Karin room to work.

Karin shrugged philosophically, measuring out milk and cocoa and dumping them directly into the pan with a glob of butter. "I dunno, maybe Tsunade is taking advantage of how much chakra he has. It's nothing on you or Naruto, but he's no slouch." She critically eyed the mixture and then added extra sugar with a faintly guilty expression and a none-too-subtle poke at her flat stomach.

"I don't know much about summoning contracts," Hinata ventured, flipping a page and leaning down to examine an illustration more closely. Her face tightened. "My honored father has one, but only Clan Heads sign it. I…. I was under the impression that they required large amounts of chakra to utilize, so Karin-chan's suggestion seems sound."

Karin stepped over the elephant in the room that trumpeted around and stomped on peanuts at the reminder that Hinata would never be signing that contract. "Pass the dark chocolate, would you?" She began shaving off tiny curls to garnish the whipped topping while the cocoa began to simmer.

"I got a letter from Naruto today postmarked last week," Aiko changed the subject. Hinata looked up none too subtly, and Karin stifled a grin. That girl practically jumped half a foot every time someone said his name.

"Oh?" Hinata prodded, unusually aggressive.

Aiko gave her an amused glance, pausing in spooning hot rice out onto nori. "Yes, his training is going well from what I gather. He isn't allowed to tell me where he's been or anything, but the letter was sent from Tea Country of all the places. Apparently his shishou taught him a genjutsu."

"That's interesting," Hinata commented thoughtfully. "I didn't know that Naruto-san had a knack for genjutsu."

Aiko barked a surprised laugh. "He doesn't, not at all," she confided conspiratorially, giving downright frightening attention to precisely arranging raw tuna slices. "I bet it was hard work for him. In fact, I don't think he ever figured out that Iruka-sensei's Big Head no Jutsu is actually a genjutsu. I used to get him out of bed sometimes with an olfactory genjutsu of cookies baking. The look on his face, every time..."

Hinata giggled. "That's a little bit unkind, isn't it?" She splayed a hand out on the table as if examining her chipped nail polish.

"Nah," the girl dismissed, squeezing the bamboo roller and unfolding it to reveal another perfectly formed roll. She set it on the plate with the others and began working on the last roll. Karin gave her cousin a weird look.

"Are we really going to eat that much?" she asked a bit skeptically.

Aiko furrowed her brow and looked at the food she'd made as if she was a bit surprised to see it. "I guess I'm cooking on auto," she said after a pause. Then she shrugged. "Whatever we don't eat will go in bento tomorrow, I suppose. You'll take one too, right Hinata?"

Karin made a face. "Second day tuna?"

Her cousin made a face at her. "We'll eat those first, okay? Ugh, nag nag nag." She stuck her tongue out at the shorter girl. Hinata stifled a giggle while Aiko changed the subject to ask Karin about medical chakra control exercises. She didn't know anyone quite like the Uzumaki family. She wasn't entirely sure if that was a tragedy or good for Konoha's relatively peaceful atmosphere. If she didn't manage to marry Naruto, she was going to have to marry Karin instead so that she could stay here forever.


End file.
